NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BRADLEY J. SCHLOZMAN

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room
5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

SEPTEMBER 25, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KANSAS MAN SENTENCED FOR BANK ROBBERY

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Bradley J. Schlozman, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Leavenworth, Kan., man was sentenced in federal court today robbing a United Missouri Bank branch in Blue Springs, Mo., last year.

Ralph F. Torres, 36, of Leavenworth, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith this morning to 11 years and three months in federal prison without parole, which the court ordered to be served consecutively to a District of Kansas sentence for the revocation of his supervised release. Torres was on supervised release at the time of the United Missouri Bank robbery, following his sentence for two armed bank robberies in Springfield, Mo., in 1998 (with that supervision transferred from the Western District of Missouri to Kansas). The court also ordered Torres to pay $3,380 in restitution.

On June 12, 2006, Torres pleaded guilty to bank robbery. Torres admitted that he stole $3,380 from United Missouri Bank, 301 N. 7 Highway, Blue Springs, on Dec. 19, 2005. Torres, wearing gloves, sunglasses and a grey hooded sweatshirt, walked into the bank at about 4:10 p.m. and loudly stated, “This is a robbery, put your hands on your head and turn around!” While everyone was facing away from him, he ordered a teller to put the money in a bag. Torres then left the bank in a vehicle driven by another person.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney K. Michael Warner. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Blue Springs, Mo., Police Department.