• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Monday, March 8, 2021
66 °f
Platte
65 ° Wed
51 ° Thu
45 ° Fri
44 ° Sat
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
No Result
View All Result
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
No Result
View All Result

Platte City motorcyle cop arrests bank robbers

Ivan Foley by Ivan Foley
December 1, 2006
in Platte City
4
SHARES
110
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email

An alert Platte City business owner and an off-duty Highway Patrol communications officer both played a role in aiding a Platte City motorcycle officer in the capture of the three alleged ‘Band-Aid Robbers’ on Friday afternoon.

Authorities had given the gang the nickname because bank security videos of the holdups show one of the men often wearing an adhesive bandage on the left side of his face. The videos also show one of the men talking on a cell phone while the bank robberies are in progress.

RelatedNews

City to hire out work for curbs, base repair

Firework sales could be booming this year

The end of an era

The suspects, believed to have been involved in as many as seven bank robberies throughout the region, were eventually stopped west of Platte City by Platte City motorcycle officer Chris Stackhouse and taken into custody by Stackhouse with assistance from two deputies–Jeremiah Filion and Billy Slentz–from the Platte County Sheriff’s Department.

The arrests were made about 3:50 p.m. west of Tracy on the Hwy. 92 Spur. The suspects were not armed, according to Platte City police. They were taken into custody without incident. Several articles of clothing were found in the vehicle, including a black baseball cap.

Bank robbery charges have been filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office against Christopher C. Pinkston, 28, of Leavenworth, Ks.; Dan. W. Russell, 40, whose residence is in Georgia but who was visiting Pinkston and staying at a Leavenworth motel; and Nakia Gross, 31, of Leavenworth, who is said to be the girlfriend of Pinkston.

Roseann Ketchmark with the U.S Attorney’s Office said thus far the suspects have only been charged with one of their seven alleged robberies. They are officially charged with the last robbery allegedly committed, that of Enterprise Bank and Trust on Northwest Prairie View Road, Kansas City. Other charges may develop, Ketchmark said, but in the complaint the only charge listed is the “most recent” of the robberies.

Court papers indicate the robbers made off with $1,226 from the bank on Prairie View. An off-duty Missouri State Highway Patrol communications officer also assisted by following the suspects’ vehicle northbound on I-29 after the robbery on Prairie View had occurred and by relaying location information to Platte County dispatch.

In an interview with The Landmark, the Platte City business owner said he was conducting business inside the National Bank of Kansas City Friday afternoon when a customer entered the bank and asked bank officials questions about opening an account for his college-age son. The business owner, who asked not to be identified for this article, became suspicious when he saw the customer leave the bank and walk over to the nearby Best Western parking lot.

“I had a bad feeling about him. I was just suspicious,” the business owner said.

He said he saw the suspicious man get into a van, which had a female driver and another passenger up front. The suspect who had been in the bank “hunkered down” in the back seat.

The concerned citizen followed the van, which he said drove south toward the Timber Park subdivision before turning around and heading back toward the heart of Platte City. The citizen phoned the National Bank of Kansas City to let them know he thought the bank had just been “cased.” An off-duty sheriff’s deputy was working security at the bank, and the security officer phoned dispatch with the information.

“I drove by every bank to be sure they (the suspects) weren’t at any of the banks in town,” the business owner said.

Though police were put on alert by the information obtained from the business owner, it is believed the suspects left Platte City undetected by authorities after being spotted and trailed for a short time by the business owner. It is believed they left Platte City, robbed the bank on Prairie View, then headed back north on I-29 where they were spotted and followed by the off-duty Highway Patrol employee. The suspects were presumably headed home to Leavenworth when they were passing through Platte City and eventually arrested by Stackhouse.

National Bank of Kansas City in Platte City had already been robbed, allegedly by these same suspects, back on Oct. 27. Did it look like they were ready to be hit again last Friday? Very likely, according to the alert business owner.

“I think the guy saw me in there and that deputy back there and had second thoughts.”

Earlier on Friday, two banks had allegedly been hit by these same suspects. The action began about 1:40 p.m.. when a person passed a note demanding money to a teller at the Bank of Atchison in Atchison, Ks. About two hours later, a person used the same method to get money from a bank at 7612 N.W. Prairie View Road in Platte County. Witnesses from each of the robberies noted the same license plate number on the getaway vehicle.

Tags: platte cityplatte countypolicePublic SafetyTracy
Ivan Foley

Ivan Foley

Ivan Foley is owner/editor/publisher of the Platte County Landmark. Foley has been on the news beat in Platte County with The Landmark for 38 years, specializing in local government issues and accountability journalism. He has penned multiple award-winning investigative pieces. He provides weekly observations and editorial commentary in his Between the Lines column and serves as host of Landmark Live, a light-hearted videocast featuring newsmakers and events in the Northland. During his time at the helm of The Landmark, the newspaper has been awarded on multiple occasions for General Excellence in the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. In 2016, Foley won the Tom and Pat Gish Award, a national honor given by the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky for displaying courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism. A big fan of the Chiefs and Royals, Foley resides in Platte County not far from KCI Airport.

Related Posts

Platte Landing boat ramp described as ‘dangerous’

Platte Landing boat ramp described as ‘dangerous’

by Ivan Foley
March 4, 2021
0

In January of 2017 it is alleged Toni Anderson, age 20, a college student from Wichita who had been living and working in Kansas City, was driving her car when she got disoriented and ended up in the Platte Landing...

Joe Vanover

County commissioner wants to be associate circuit judge

by Ivan Foley
March 4, 2021
0

When Ann Hansbrough was recently appointed to fill the circuit judge post vacated by the retiring James Van Amburg, it created a vacancy in Hansbrough's former spot of associate circuit judge. The process to name the new associate circuit judge...

Government transparency

Lack of transparency at the health department

by Landmark Digital Staff
March 4, 2021
0

EDITOR: Something shady went down at the Platte County Health Department and it deserves to be investigated. Local dentist and board of trustees member, Teresa Hills, sold her dental practice and left Platte County on Jan. 1, 2021 requiring that...

Petticoat Junction

Commissioners, judgeships and Petticoat Junction

by Ivan Foley
March 4, 2021
0

Eight folks have applied to become associate circuit judge in Platte County. The chosen one will fill the spot vacated when Judge Ann Hansbrough was recently named to circuit judge, leaving her associate judgeship to be filled by a process...

Next Post

Montee buys horse ranch in Platte County

Popular News

  • Platte Landing boat ramp described as ‘dangerous’

    Platte Landing boat ramp described as ‘dangerous’

    120 shares
    Share 48 Tweet 30
  • Why the urgency for R-3 bond issue?

    31 shares
    Share 12 Tweet 8
  • Judge tells city to produce documents

    24 shares
    Share 10 Tweet 6
  • County commissioner wants to be associate circuit judge

    18 shares
    Share 7 Tweet 5
  • Volunteer coordinator to aid local vaccination clinics

    9 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 2
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Call us at 816-858-0363

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Subscribe Online
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist