Federal Prison Terms Handed Down to Pair in Connection with Texas and Missouri Bank Robberies

United States Attorney Robert Pitman announced that in Waco, two Macon, Missouri residents were sentenced to federal prison terms for a series of bank robberies in Texas and Missouri last year.

Yesterday afternoon, United States District Judge Walter S. Smith sentenced 24-year-old Jacob Thomas Norris and 23-year-old Alexia Quentasha Baker to 72 months and 41 months in federal prison, respectively. In addition, Judge Smith ordered that the defendants pay a $1,000 fine, $1,627 restitution and be placed under supervised release for a period of five years after completing their prison terms.

On March 8, 2012, Norris and Baker each pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting bank robbery with a dangerous weapon and one count of bank robbery. By pleading guilty, Norris and Baker admitted that they served as the getaway driver and lookout, respectively, while co-defendant Jeffrey Brent Heckman, robbed the Merchant’s & Farmer’s Bank, 4000 Rangeline Street, in Columbia, Missouri on July 8, 2011. They also admitted to aiding and abetting Heckman while he robbed with a dangerous weapon the Texell Credit Union at 3314 South 31st Street, in Temple, Texas three days later.

On the same day that Norris and Baker pleaded guilty, Heckman, age 26, pleaded guilty to two counts of bank robbery with a dangerous weapon, three counts of bank robbery, and one count of carrying a firearm during a crime of violence. By pleading guilty, Heckman admitted to stealing a total of approximately $33,000 during the following bank robberies: the May 19, 2011 robbery of the Bank Northwest in Hamilton, Missouri; the June 1, 2011 robbery of a Preferred Bank in Brookfield, Missouri; June 21, 2011 robbery of the Citizen’s Bank of Blythesdale in Harrison County, Missouri, while carrying a shotgun; and, the Merchant’s & Farmer’s Bank and Texell Credit Union robberies. Heckman is scheduled to be sentenced at 1:00 p.m. on May 31, 2012.

According to court records, from May 18, 2011 until September 5, 2011, the trio conspired to commit several bank robberies in Missouri and Texas before fleeing to Mexico to avoid capture. Court documents further reveal that Norris and Baker, knowing that a bank robbery had been committed, rented hotel rooms in Georgetown, San Antonio, and Laredo and purchased $3,500 in money cards, clothing, and a backpack to facilitate their escape to Mexico. On September 5, 2011, the defendants were arrested by authorities in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The following day, Mexican immigration officials deported them to the United States.

This case was investigated by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the San Antonio, Kansas City, and St. Louis divisions along with the Temple (Texas) Police Department and local authorities in Missouri. Assistant United States Attorney Greg Gloff is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.