Two Indicted in Collar Bomb Incident

The strange case of Brian Wells, the seemingly innocent pizza delivery man who was forced to wear a bomb around his neck and rob a bank, is coming to a close. Wells died in the street, after being stopped by police after he attempted to rob a bank, when the collar bomb he was wearing detonated. The explosion left a softball sized hole in his chest. Before the bomb went off, Brian told authorities that he went to make a delivery to a remote location, but was accosted by two men he didnt know and forced to wear the bomb. The only way he would be able to get the bomb off was if he robbed the bank and followed a map that would lead him to the instructions to unlock the device.

Almost four years later, a federal grand jury has now indicted Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, 58, and Kenneth Barnes, 53, on charges of bank robbery, conspiracy and weapons charges. A third person in the case, Floyd Stockton, 60, was given immunity in a deal with prosecutors to testify against Barnes and Diehl-Armstrong. Reports are now that Wells was in on the plan and knew the people who put the device on his neck. However, Wells thought the device was to be a fake when he agreed to go along with the plan.

Armstrong, Barnes, Stockton, Rothstein

Federal agents are stating that Barnes, Diehl-Armstrong, and her onetime boyfriend, William Rothstein, planned the robbery so that she would gain $125,000 to kill her father, Harold Diehl. Wells was brought into the plan through Barnes, whom he knew through a prostitute. When Wells made the pizza delivery to the remote location, he met Rothstein, Barnes and Stockton. It was at that point they told Wells that the device was real. Wells tried to leave, but they wrestled him to the ground and forced the bomb on him. he was then given the nine-page letter that sent him on a scavenger hunt for clues that would get the device off his neck.

He robbed the PNC Bank in the Summit Towne Center and found his first clue under a rock at a nearby McDonald’s drive-through. He was headed for his second clue when police stopped him. They handcuffed him and made him sit in front of a patrol car until the bomb squad arrived. The bomb exploded before it could be disarmed.

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