Bomb Strapped to neck of 18 year girl from wealthy OZ family

[brandonx76]

This sounds like a movie plot... Wow


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/s ... 6107796815

[Don]

Didn't Moriarty do something like this in the new modernized version of Sherlock Holmes?

[brandonx76]

Not sure I recall that - I was reminded of "Running Man" however (the beginning where he's in prison)

[Saint John]

This has happened quite a few times. I remember the pizza guy that was (supposedly) taken hostage, had a bomb clamped to his neck and told to rob a bank and bring back the money before the bomb went off. The cops caught him, didn't know what to do and his head was blown off on live television.

ERIE, Pa. — A pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and was killed when the bomb around his neck exploded wasn't a hostage — he was a conspirator in the plot, federal authorities said Wednesday.

The deliveryman, Brian Wells, 46, had told police before the bomb exploded in August 2003 that he was an innocent victim and had been forced by gunmen to rob the bank.

However, in the indictments unsealed Wednesday, Wells is named as a co-conspirator. Two other people, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and her friend Kenneth E. Barnes, are charged with bank robbery, conspiracy and a firearms count.

[brandonx76]

This has happened quite a few times. I remember the pizza guy that was (supposedly) taken hostage, had a bomb clamped to his neck and told to rob a bank and bring back the money before the bomb went off. The cops caught him, didn't know what to do and his head was blown off on live television.

ERIE, Pa. — A pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and was killed when the bomb around his neck exploded wasn't a hostage — he was a conspirator in the plot, federal authorities said Wednesday.

The deliveryman, Brian Wells, 46, had told police before the bomb exploded in August 2003 that he was an innocent victim and had been forced by gunmen to rob the bank.

However, in the indictments unsealed Wednesday, Wells is named as a co-conspirator. Two other people, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and her friend Kenneth E. Barnes, are charged with bank robbery, conspiracy and a firearms count.

Damn - any video of THAT??

[StevePerryHair]

This has happened quite a few times. I remember the pizza guy that was (supposedly) taken hostage, had a bomb clamped to his neck and told to rob a bank and bring back the money before the bomb went off. The cops caught him, didn't know what to do and his head was blown off on live television.

ERIE, Pa. — A pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and was killed when the bomb around his neck exploded wasn't a hostage — he was a conspirator in the plot, federal authorities said Wednesday.

The deliveryman, Brian Wells, 46, had told police before the bomb exploded in August 2003 that he was an innocent victim and had been forced by gunmen to rob the bank.

However, in the indictments unsealed Wednesday, Wells is named as a co-conspirator. Two other people, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and her friend Kenneth E. Barnes, are charged with bank robbery, conspiracy and a firearms count.

Yes! I was just going to post this! It's the first thing that popped in my head, with Erie being my hometown. I've seen it in movies or on tv since then.

Wells family still insists he's innocent, and there was a suicide surrounding it too. I doubt they'll ever know the whole truth. Sick minds!

[brandonx76]

Never mind - the video's out there...Jesus...that's terrible

[StevePerryHair]

Here's the latest on the Erie story, and as you can see it's "he said/ she said" with the mastermind claiming Wells was involved, a friend of hers, saying he wasn't, her fiancé accomplice dead from cancer, and there was another guy linked I remember, who killed himself back then! Just craziness! Anyway, here:


PUBLISHED: JUNE 7, 2011 1:15 AM EST
UPDATED: JUNE 7, 2011 6:59 AM EST
Barnes gets sentence halved in Erie 'pizza bomber' case

BY ED PALATTELLA, Erie Times-News
ed.palattella@timesnews.com
     
The main witness in the successful prosecution of the "pizza bomber" case has gotten his federal prison sentence cut in half in exchange for his testimony.

But the amount of time 57-year-old Kenneth E. Barnes still must serve is substantial -- about 20 years, keeping intact the strong possibility that Barnes, who is in poor health, will die while incarcerated.

Barnes had his original sentence of 45 years halved on Monday at a closed hearing at the federal courthouse in Erie before U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin, according to court records.

The session, known as a Rule 35 hearing, occurred in response to a request from the U.S. Attorney's Office that McLaughlin reduce Barnes' sentence in light of testimony against Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong.

McLaughlin on Feb. 28 sentenced Diehl-Armstrong, 62, to life plus 30 years for her role in the bank-robbery plot that ended in the bombing death of pizza deliveryman Brian Wells in Summit Township on Aug. 28, 2003. A jury in McLaughlin's courtroom convicted Diehl-Armstrong on Nov. 1.

A grand jury in July 2007 indicted her and Barnes. He pleaded guilty in September 2008, and McLaughlin in December 2008 sentenced him to 45 years, or 540 months.

McLaughlin on Monday dropped that sentence to 270 months, or 22 1/2 years, according to court records. Based on the amount of time he already has served in federal prison, Barnes will be incarcerated for about 20 more years.

He is at the high-security U.S. Penitentiary II at Coleman, Fla., about 50 miles northwest of Orlando. He suffers from severe diabetes and other serious health problems.

Barnes' testimony at Diehl-Armstrong's trial provided the jury with firsthand information about the Wells scheme, in which Diehl-Armstrong claimed she was framed by her former fiance, William A. Rothstein, 60, who died of cancer in July 2004.

Barnes, a fishing buddy of Diehl-Armstrong, testified that she measured Wells' neck to fit him for the collar bomb. Barnes said he punched Wells, 46, in the face to subdue him to wear the bomb. And he said he and Diehl-Armstrong acted as lookouts when Wells robbed what was the PNC Bank in the Summit Towne Centre of $8,702 while wearing the bomb.

Diehl-Armstrong testified that Barnes was lying. Barnes, a convicted drug dealer and former television repairman, testified that he pleaded guilty and got what was then a 45-year sentence "to be on the right side of God."

The court document McLaughlin filed on Monday shows that he halved the sentence as the result of a Rule 35 hearing, but does not state the judge's reasons.

Barnes' lawyer, Alison Scarpitti, declined to comment, as did the chief federal prosecutor in Erie, Marshall Piccinini, who handled the pizza bomber case. No Rule 35 motion was made part of the public record in Barnes' case.

Rule 35 motions are typically sealed and any Rule 35 hearings closed, mainly to prevent retaliation against an inmate who has been publicly labeled an informant. \The judge typically considers the extent and quality of the inmate's cooperation in deciding how much to trim the sentence.

In February, after Diehl-Armstrong's sentencing, Piccinini indicated he would file a Rule 35 motion on Barnes' behalf. He said the U.S. Attorney's Office would "review the matter and determine whether to exercise its discretion."

"We always expected they would file that motion," Scarpitti, Barnes' lawyer, said at the time. "At this point in time, I have faith they will do that."

Barnes pleaded guilty to using a destructive device during a crime of violence and conspiracy to commit bank robbery.

The bank-robbery charge carried a maximum sentence of five years, which Barnes received, and the destructive-device charge carried a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years and a maximum of life. Barnes got 40 years on that count. The government dropped a count of armed bank robbery, which carried a life sentence because Wells died.

Diehl-Armstrong was convicted of the felony of aiding and abetting an armed bank robbery that ended in a death, which carries the mandatory life sentence.

She also was found guilty of aiding and abetting the use of a destructive device in a crime of violence, which carries the mandatory 30-year sentence, and she was convicted of conspiracy to commit bank robbery.

In originally sentencing Barnes, McLaughlin rejected the defense argument that Barnes had a limited role in the Wells plot. He said he went above the 30-year mandatory minimum in sentencing Barnes to 45 years to reinforce "the value that we, as a society, quite properly place on human life."

In sentencing Diehl-Armstrong to life plus 30 years, McLaughlin said the penalty "fits the crime and is completely justified."

[S2M]

There's a movie coming out that ERILY resembles this story

30 MINUTES OR LESS

Starring Nick Swardson, Jesse Eisenberg, and that dude from Pineapple Express....

[StevePerryHair]

There's a movie coming out that ERILY resembles this story

30 MINUTES OR LESS

Starring Nick Swardson, Jesse Eisenberg, and that dude from Pineapple Express....

Yeah, the movie was done well after the real life situation. It was an unprecedented case that even shocked the FBI at the time. Hollywood loves that stuff. And apparently criminals too.

[S2M]

There's a movie coming out that ERILY resembles this story

30 MINUTES OR LESS

Starring Nick Swardson, Jesse Eisenberg, and that dude from Pineapple Express....

Yeah, the movie was done well after the real life situation. It was an unprecedented case that even shocked the FBI at the time. Hollywood loves that stuff. And apparently criminals too.

They made it into a comedy.....

And they have the guy working at Quaker Steak & Lube.....

[StevePerryHair]

There's a movie coming out that ERILY resembles this story

30 MINUTES OR LESS

Starring Nick Swardson, Jesse Eisenberg, and that dude from Pineapple Express....

Yeah, the movie was done well after the real life situation. It was an unprecedented case that even shocked the FBI at the time. Hollywood loves that stuff. And apparently criminals too.

They made it into a comedy.....

And they have the guy working at Quaker Steak & Lube.....

They don't sell pizza there.... duh

[Arianddu]

Been confirmed the bomb was a fake - someone trying to extort money from the family.

[Tito]

Been confirmed the bomb was a fake - someone trying to extort money from the family.

Hey, Andrew has to keep this site running some way. Donations and advertising revenue weren't high enough last month.