Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Western District of Missouri

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Tennessee man Sentenced for Thayer Bank Robbery

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Memphis, Tenn., man was sentenced in federal court today for robbing a bank in Thayer, Mo.

Bobby Laughton Yates, 26, of Memphis, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool on Oct. 11, 2016, to five years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Yates to pay $2,325 in restitution.

On March 16, 2016, Yates pleaded guilty to bank robbery. Yates admitted that he stole $2,325 from Great Southern Bank, 323 E. Walnut St., Thayer, on April 22, 2015.

Yates entered the bank on April 22, 2015, and asked for a deposit slip. A teller directed Yates to a kiosk to the right of the teller’s station. Yates went to the kiosk and wrote out a note on a withdrawal slip. Yates presented the slip, and a plastic bag, to the teller. The slip stated, “put ALL the Money in the BAG Dont do anything dumb.”  Yates instructed the teller not to draw the attention of the bank manager. The teller noted Yates kept his hand in his left sweater pocket, where she observed a bulge that appeared to be a gun.

           

Yates told the teller to give him the money from all the drawers; however, the teller informed him she only had access to hers. The teller placed all the bills in her drawer, into the bag and handed it to Yates. As Yates was leaving, he ran into the door jam and dropped what appeared to be a handgun. Yates picked the item up, but part of a broken piece was left behind. The broken piece was later determined to be part of an Airsoft gun.

Yates was later arrested for robbing the Patriot Bank in Millington, Tenn., and has pleaded guilty to that bank robbery in a separate case.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the Thayer, Mo., Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the FBI.