Indianapolis Woman Indictment for Aiding and Abetting an Armed Bank Robbery

INDIANAPOLIS—Joseph H. Hogsett, United States Attorney, announced that Beth A. Moench, 33, Indianapolis, was indicted today with aiding and abetting an armed bank robbery. The indictment was result of the joint investigative efforts of the FBI and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

The indictment alleges that Moench’s actions on September 5, 2009, put others in jeopardy when she participated in an armed bank robbery at a Huntington bank branch in Indianapolis. During that robbery, Beth A. Moench, accompanied by her 11-year-old daughter and her 5-year-old son, pulled into the parking lot of the bank. Moench purportedly allowed her daughter to enter the bank first. Once Moench’s daughter entered the bank, one of the bank robbers immediately grabbed her and put her head under his arm taking her hostage, and then put the handgun he was carrying to the temple area of her head, forcibly drug her to the teller counter, and demanded that the bank tellers cooperate with the robbery. The bank robbers took a total of $42,259 in United States currency. Once the other robber jumped over the teller counter with the currency, Moench’s daughter was released and the bank robbers ran out of the bank and into a gold Dodge Intrepid. Bank surveillance footage showed the gold Dodge Intrepid leaving the parking lot. A customer inside the bank was able to record the license plate.

Moench allegedly told investigators that the purpose of taking her children into the bank lobby was to add “drama” and also stated it would be a more serious crime that would coerce employees to be more compliant with bank robbers’ demands.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Warden, who is prosecuting the case for the government, Moench faces a maximum of 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. An initial hearing will be scheduled for in Indianapolis, Indiana before a U.S. Magistrate Judge.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.