Man sentenced in bizarre collar-bomb robbery plot

[RaVen Blackehart]

"A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to 45 years in prison in a deadly bank robbery plot -- described by the judge in the case as "incredibly bizarre" -- in which a pizza deliveryman died when a bomb affixed to his neck exploded.
This device held a bomb to the neck of Brian Wells during a 2003 bank robbery in Erie, Pennsylvania.

This device held a bomb to the neck of Brian Wells during a 2003 bank robbery in Erie, Pennsylvania.

At the sentencing in Erie, Pennsylvania, prosecutors repeated their contention that the pizza deliveryman was involved in planning the robbery attempt but wore a live bomb only after being threatened by his co-conspirators.

Kenneth Barnes, 55, of Erie, was sentenced Wednesday after he pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to commit bank robbery and using a destructive device during a crime of violence.

Prosecutors said Barnes and three co-conspirators -- one of whom was pizza deliveryman Brian Wells -- planned to rob a PNC Bank on the outskirts of Erie, and Wells, 46, carried out the robbery on August 28, 2003. Authorities said Wells walked into the bank with a pipe bomb locked to his neck and passed a note demanding money to a teller.

The robbery netted about $8,700.

Wells died when the bomb exploded as he sat in a parking lot after being stopped by police shortly after the robbery.

The case drew national attention and was the subject of intense investigation and questions about whether Wells was a willing participant or a murder victim.

Prosecutors said after Barnes' sentencing that Wells was involved in planning the robbery but balked when he realized that the bomb he was supposed to wear was real. He was threatened with a gun to make him wear the bomb, according to prosecutors.

U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan called the sentence "appropriate and just," and said the contentions of Wells' family that he was not involved in the plot are "overwhelmingly" countered by evidence of meetings with Wells, Barnes and the other two co-conspirators before the robbery."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/04/...omb/index.html

[Unamused Cat]

I remember this one, and the guy just sitting there with the bomb around his neck... then boom. Thanks for the update.

[Tazzzz]

Wasn't he the boyfriend of the mastermind bitch they already sent to jail I forgot, its been so long, Then there was a suicide guy as well. Either way I remember when it happened and they did a bunch of shows on AMW about it.

[Radness Madness!]

there's a video that shows the delivery guy saying to the cops "Why aren't you trying to get this off of me?" then the bomb goes off. the video was how i found out about this case. gory, sad, but interesting.

[penelopejo]

I remember watching it on the news. Then all of the news stations got in trouble because it was a live feed w/o a 7 second delay. I still think if there was a delay on, they'd be too shocked to cut it off. I just remember him screaming something then *BLAM* his head is no longer there. And it was all over money. Didn't they have more bodies in a freezer or something?

[Hellsbells]

Pa. woman gets life plus 30 in collar bomb death

ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- A Pennsylvania woman was sentenced Monday to spend the rest of her life in prison for a bank robbery plot in which a pizza delivery driver was killed by a bomb locked around his neck - even though both she and the victim's family claim that she's innocent and that the real killers went free.

It was a strange coda to a bizarre case with a defendant to match: 62-year-old Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, the mentally ill Erie woman sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison in the bank robbery plot that killed 46-year-old Brian Wells on Aug. 28, 2003.

Diehl-Armstrong, already in prison for a slaying two weeks before Wells' death, has denied involvement in the plot. And Wells' sister, Jean Heid, supported her claim before Diehl-Armstrong was sentenced.

Heid reiterated the family's belief that Diehl-Armstrong was just a pawn and that Wells wasn't a co-conspirator, as federal prosecutors allege.

According to prosecutors, they were assisted by William Rothstein, Diehl-Armstrong's ex-boyfriend, who built the bomb collar using two egg timers she provided and helped force Wells - who prosecutors say may have gotten cold feet - to wear it.

Rothstein was drawn into the case when he called police in September 2003 to report having the body of James Roden, 45, in his garage freezer. Diehl-Armstrong later pleaded guilty but mentally ill to third-degree murder - and is still serving her seven- to 20-year sentence for his shotgun killing 18 days before Wells died.

Police stopped Wells' car shortly after he took $8,701 from the bank, and he sat handcuffed on the pavement as officers took cover while waiting for a bomb squad.

"All the more haunting to us were Brian's last words caught on the (local TV news) video tape," Heid said. "'I don't have a lot of time. It's gonna go off. I'm not lying. When is someone gonna come and get this thing off of me?'"

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT