East Alums Accused of Bank Robbery

Four men, including East alumni Michael Grace and David Batson, both 20-years-old, were charged this past month in a staged kidnapping and the subsequent robbery of a local bank on Nov. 10. The quartet embezzled approximately $62,240 from an ATM machine before being caught hours later, an act executed utilizing Grace’s former status as a teller at the U.S. Bank on 119th street in Overland Park.

Although the boys are out of Wyandotte County Jail on $20,000 bond, the accused robbers are subject to $1 million fines and up to 30 years imprisonment in the near future. Both boys’ attorneys refused to comment on the details of the case.
The behavior of the two boys who were seniors at East in 2009 was completely out of the ordinary, according to multiple sources at East.
“Nothing would’ve pointed to that sort of behavior from [Grace],” previous teacher and choir director Ken Foley said. “But I always look for the good in people.”

The Set-Up
According to East graduate Michael Grace during police questioning, he had been plotting the attempt along with Brenden L. Connors, 18, and Jacob McWhirt, 28, three to four weeks prior to the break-in, while the men were working at the AMC Town Center 20 movie theater together. The men had planned for the robbery to be a heist; Connors would don a Halloween mask and pretend to force Grace into opening up the ATM with his key, making the scene look plausible for the surveillance cameras. Batson would then load the money into the trunk of the getaway car parked close by and drive off into the distance, leaving Grace tied to a chair with a bloody nose, the handiwork of Connors according to authorities, to plant the story they’d woven during their time at the nearby theater.
“I don’t know what the situation was, if it was them wanting money to go to school, or why they wanted the money that badly,” former AMC coworker and East graduate Morgan Meyers said. “But I never thought they would go to that extremity.”
Grace decided to execute the plan the day after the bank’s ATM had been filled up, a Wednesday. Batson admitted during questioning to getting cold feet the night before the robbery; he said that he was originally the one who would be forcing Grace to rob the ATM, and had switched his role to the driver to avoid the confrontation. The fourth member of the group, McWhirt, also backed out of the action at the last minute, feeling “uncomfortable” with the embezzlement itself. He chose instead to hold the stolen funds after Batson had made away with them, and left his car unlocked for easy stashing.
Grace pushed forward with the plan, using himself and Connors as the lead men behind the operation. The night before the incident, the men discussed their final plan while at the AMC theater, authorities allege. After Grace had purchased a grotesque mask from Wal-Mart and provided Connors with duct tape and gloves, the plan was set in motion.

The Attempt According To Police Record: Nov. 10, 2010

5:00 a.m. Batson receives a coded text message notifying him that the plan to embezzle the bank’s funds is still on. Batson then drives by Grace’s house and sees Connors and Grace getting into Grace’s car. He then realizes that Connors is the one helping Grace, not McWhirt as he had previously believed. Batson drives in his car to 120th Street and Nieman Rd. where he meets the other two men. He waits while Grace and Connors drive Grace’s car over to the bank.

5:53 a.m. An investigator at the bank, Marty Taraski, states that the bank’s alarm was disarmed at this time on Nov. 10, 2010. The two men, Grace and Connors, opened the ATM machine using Grace’s key, stuffed the money into a bag, and then tied Grace to a chair behind the teller’s area within the bank.

7:20 a.m. U.S. Bank employee Jacob Sherman enters the bank and discovers Grace tied up in duct tape and seated in a chair in the area behind the teller counters. Sherman then removes the duct tape from the trapped man’s hands and body. Grace advises Sherman to “call corporate security.” Sherman asks if anybody is still within the bank’s vicinity, to which Grace responds, “Not to my knowledge.” Sherman does as he’s told, and relays the information to security that Grace feeds to him. According to Grace, his kidnapper and therefore the bank’s robber, was white and middle-aged. Sherman calls the police and lets two Overland Park Police Officers into the bank to begin investigation.

The Aftermath
Connors returned to Batson’s car from the scene in the bank a short time later, according to the police reports, driving Grace’s blue Chevy. He then got into Batson’s car, and the two proceeded to drop the bag containing the money from the bank in McWhirt’s unlocked Volvo.
Several hours after the two left the area, the police were on McWhirt’s case, records allege. The 28-year-old was approached by several Overland Park Police Department detectives, and consented to a search of the vehicle that resulted in the discovery of the embezzled funds.
The surveillance footage recorded at the bank revealed that the “kidnapper” had no weapon, a tip-off to the authorities that the robbery was an inside job. According to the charged documents, Grace was the first to confess, and told the FBI agents that the kidnapping was a lie and that he had been the one to organize the plan altogether, adding, “I should’ve done it myself.” The other suspects cracked under the pressure of the police questioning and soon confirmed Grace’s account of the truth.
“As a teacher, you try to see the best in your students,” Jeannette Bonjour, a former English teacher of Grace said. “You’re not like, ‘I want you to grow up to be a bank robber.’ You want them to grow up and be happy.”
Each member of the group was thrown into Wyandotte Country Prison only to be released less than a week later on the 15th, on $20,000 bond granted by U.S. Magistrate Judge David J. Waxse.
The magnitude of the case is not lessened by the men’s ordered release from jail; the indictment filed against the accused criminals states that if they are convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $1 million.

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