Weird Bank Robbery Story
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Trial starting in bizarre Pa. collar-bomb case
By JOE MANDAK (AP) – 9 hours ago
PITTSBURGH — All but anonymous in life, Brian Wells now has his own Wikipedia entry, and bootleg TV news video of his grisly demise by a time bomb strapped to his neck is available online.
On Tuesday, jury selection begins in Erie in the federal trial of the woman accused of masterminding a bizarre 2003 bank robbery plot that ended with the death of the 46-year-old pizza deliveryman.
Prosecutors say Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong needed money from the robbery to pay a hit man kill her estranged father. She's accused of arranging for someone else to order pizzas, rig Wells with the bomb, force him to rob a bank and, afterward, stop the time bomb.
Shortly after Wells took $8,702 from a PNC bank teller — far less than the $250,000 he demanded according to the nine pages of handwritten instructions he was allegedly forced to follow to commit the robbery and get free of the bomb — state police caught up with him. He died sitting handcuffed in a parking lot, waiting for a bomb squad and shouting to troopers taking cover nearby: "I'm not lying! I'm not doing this! This isn't me!"
Defense attorney Douglas Sughrue tried to get the trial moved to another federal court district, arguing that years of news coverage have made it impossible to pick an unbiased jury.
"I believe it will be a long and arduous task to pick a jury from the Erie division of federal courts," Sughrue said.
Defending Diehl-Armstrong on charges of conspiracy, using a destructive device in a crime of violence and armed bank robbery, which could result in a life sentence, doesn't figure to be any easier. She has publicly feuded with and fired two previous attorneys and allegedly given incriminating statements to the FBI.
She has admitted killing two lovers — the first, a jury ruled, was justified during an abusive relationship in the 1980s, though she's still serving a seven- to 20-year prison sentence for shooting the second man because, federal prosecutors contend, he knew too much about the bank robbery plot.
Diehl-Armstrong's former fishing buddy, 56-year-old Kenneth Barnes, is serving 45 years in prison after pleading guilty to his role and will be the government's key witness. Prosecutors said Barnes is the would-be hit man on her father.
But the fates of those men have been overshadowed by Wells, who died Aug. 28, 2003. Wells' family was incensed that he was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the July 2007 indictment charging Diehl-Armstrong and Barnes.
The family has not returned repeated phone calls from The Associated Press, but it has argued that it is inconceivable Wells would volunteer to be a walking time bomb. Federal prosecutors believe he either knew of or helped plan the robbery without realizing he'd be forced to carry it out.
Sughrue won't comment on his defense strategy except to say it includes testimony by Dr. Robert Sadoff, a past president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.
Diehl-Armstrong's trial was delayed for months when U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin determined she was mentally incompetent in July 2008. That occurred after Sadoff testified she once stored 727 pounds of cheese, 389 pounds of butter and 37 dozen eggs at her home — without refrigeration.
She's since been deemed competent, but pretrial court documents suggest Sughrue's defense will focus on her mental condition. He's not claiming legal insanity; that is, a mental defect so profound that Diehl-Armstrong couldn't tell right from wrong.
Instead, the documents suggest Sadoff will testify that Diehl-Armstrong was too preoccupied with her then-boyfriend's murder and the plans to kill her father to devise the bank robbery plot.
In 2005, Diehl-Armstrong pleaded guilty but mentally ill to fatally shooting William Roden, 45, about two weeks before Wells' death. His body was found in a freezer at the home of another former boyfriend, William Rothstein, who called police shortly after Wells' death.
Rothstein, who has since died of cancer, said he came forward after Diehl-Armstrong suggested using the ice crusher to get rid of the remains. He also is listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Wells case.
An electrician, substitute teacher and handyman, Rothstein is alleged to have crafted the collar bomb. And the federal government says Rothstein ordered two pizzas from a pay phone to draw Wells to a dead-end road. That's where Wells told police he was forced at gunpoint, never naming by whom, to wear the collar bomb.
The prosecution wants to limit Sadoff's testimony. The judge will hold a brief hearing before jury selection begins to rule whether Sadoff can testify about a report he filed last month saying Diehl-Armstrong "participated to the extent she did in order to achieve her goals and not because she was part of a willing conspiracy to rob the bank and to kill Mr. Wells. She had no reason for doing that, as she had money to pay for what she wished to have done."
That is, having Barnes kill her father.
Harold Diehl, 91, did not return a call to a friend's home, and his listed telephone number is disconnected. But he told the AP shortly after his daughter's indictment that she's capable of planning the bank robbery and his murder.
"She, in my estimation, she'd have a tendency to do anything that's possible because I think her mind is a little bit goofed up," Diehl said.
By JOE MANDAK (AP) – 9 hours ago
PITTSBURGH — All but anonymous in life, Brian Wells now has his own Wikipedia entry, and bootleg TV news video of his grisly demise by a time bomb strapped to his neck is available online.
On Tuesday, jury selection begins in Erie in the federal trial of the woman accused of masterminding a bizarre 2003 bank robbery plot that ended with the death of the 46-year-old pizza deliveryman.
Prosecutors say Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong needed money from the robbery to pay a hit man kill her estranged father. She's accused of arranging for someone else to order pizzas, rig Wells with the bomb, force him to rob a bank and, afterward, stop the time bomb.
Shortly after Wells took $8,702 from a PNC bank teller — far less than the $250,000 he demanded according to the nine pages of handwritten instructions he was allegedly forced to follow to commit the robbery and get free of the bomb — state police caught up with him. He died sitting handcuffed in a parking lot, waiting for a bomb squad and shouting to troopers taking cover nearby: "I'm not lying! I'm not doing this! This isn't me!"
Defense attorney Douglas Sughrue tried to get the trial moved to another federal court district, arguing that years of news coverage have made it impossible to pick an unbiased jury.
"I believe it will be a long and arduous task to pick a jury from the Erie division of federal courts," Sughrue said.
Defending Diehl-Armstrong on charges of conspiracy, using a destructive device in a crime of violence and armed bank robbery, which could result in a life sentence, doesn't figure to be any easier. She has publicly feuded with and fired two previous attorneys and allegedly given incriminating statements to the FBI.
She has admitted killing two lovers — the first, a jury ruled, was justified during an abusive relationship in the 1980s, though she's still serving a seven- to 20-year prison sentence for shooting the second man because, federal prosecutors contend, he knew too much about the bank robbery plot.
Diehl-Armstrong's former fishing buddy, 56-year-old Kenneth Barnes, is serving 45 years in prison after pleading guilty to his role and will be the government's key witness. Prosecutors said Barnes is the would-be hit man on her father.
But the fates of those men have been overshadowed by Wells, who died Aug. 28, 2003. Wells' family was incensed that he was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the July 2007 indictment charging Diehl-Armstrong and Barnes.
The family has not returned repeated phone calls from The Associated Press, but it has argued that it is inconceivable Wells would volunteer to be a walking time bomb. Federal prosecutors believe he either knew of or helped plan the robbery without realizing he'd be forced to carry it out.
Sughrue won't comment on his defense strategy except to say it includes testimony by Dr. Robert Sadoff, a past president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.
Diehl-Armstrong's trial was delayed for months when U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin determined she was mentally incompetent in July 2008. That occurred after Sadoff testified she once stored 727 pounds of cheese, 389 pounds of butter and 37 dozen eggs at her home — without refrigeration.
She's since been deemed competent, but pretrial court documents suggest Sughrue's defense will focus on her mental condition. He's not claiming legal insanity; that is, a mental defect so profound that Diehl-Armstrong couldn't tell right from wrong.
Instead, the documents suggest Sadoff will testify that Diehl-Armstrong was too preoccupied with her then-boyfriend's murder and the plans to kill her father to devise the bank robbery plot.
In 2005, Diehl-Armstrong pleaded guilty but mentally ill to fatally shooting William Roden, 45, about two weeks before Wells' death. His body was found in a freezer at the home of another former boyfriend, William Rothstein, who called police shortly after Wells' death.
Rothstein, who has since died of cancer, said he came forward after Diehl-Armstrong suggested using the ice crusher to get rid of the remains. He also is listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Wells case.
An electrician, substitute teacher and handyman, Rothstein is alleged to have crafted the collar bomb. And the federal government says Rothstein ordered two pizzas from a pay phone to draw Wells to a dead-end road. That's where Wells told police he was forced at gunpoint, never naming by whom, to wear the collar bomb.
The prosecution wants to limit Sadoff's testimony. The judge will hold a brief hearing before jury selection begins to rule whether Sadoff can testify about a report he filed last month saying Diehl-Armstrong "participated to the extent she did in order to achieve her goals and not because she was part of a willing conspiracy to rob the bank and to kill Mr. Wells. She had no reason for doing that, as she had money to pay for what she wished to have done."
That is, having Barnes kill her father.
Harold Diehl, 91, did not return a call to a friend's home, and his listed telephone number is disconnected. But he told the AP shortly after his daughter's indictment that she's capable of planning the bank robbery and his murder.
"She, in my estimation, she'd have a tendency to do anything that's possible because I think her mind is a little bit goofed up," Diehl said.
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Truth about US collar bomb robbery remains elusive
By Chris Summers, BBC News
Seven years ago American pizza delivery man Brian Wells was killed when a collar bomb tied around his neck blew up after he had carried out a robbery. On Monday, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, 61, was convicted over his death, but the truth about Mr Wells' own involvement remains elusive.
Cameras from a local TV station were rolling on 28 August 2003, as the 46-year-old pizza delivery man pleaded for help from police bomb squad officers.
Mr Wells, armed with a peculiar gun shaped like a walking stick, had just robbed a bank in Erie, Pennsylvania and was surrounded by police officers.
He was wearing a collar device around his neck, which he insisted was a bomb that was about to detonate.
The police have been criticised by his family for the amount of time it took them to call in a bomb squad team.
When they arrived, the collar bomb exploded before they could dismantle it. Mr Wells was killed instantly.
Fortunately WJET-TV, a local ABC affiliate, was not carrying the incident live on television at the time, although video clips of the incident have since been posted on the internet.
But ever since Mr Wells died, detectives, lawyers, friends and relatives of have been trying to piece together the events of that day to find out what really happened.
Assistant United States Attorney Marshall Piccinini said criticism of the police tactics on the day were "invalid".
Mr Piccinini said investigators had "waded through a tremendous amount of evidence and spent thousands of hours" to get to the bottom of the incident.
It appears Wells was tricked by friends, or criminal accomplices, into putting on the collar and may have been under the impression it was fake.
Confronted by the truth, he was given several handwritten letters instructing him to steal at least $250,000 from a bank in nearby Summit township, the Erie Times-News reported.
After obtaining just $8,702 from the bank, Wells was stopped by police, but he told them three people had put the bomb on him and forced him to carry out the robbery.
He can be seen on video footage calling out: "Why is nobody trying to get this thing off me?.. I haven't got a lot of time. I'm not lying."
A few seconds later the bomb went off, killing him instantly.
But who was responsible for the collar bomb?
In December 2008 Kenneth Barnes, 54, pleaded guilty and was jailed for 45 years for his role in the robbery.
A second suspect, handyman William Rothstein, died of cancer in 2004 before he could be questioned by police.
Another key player, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, 61, has just been convicted for her part in the robbery. During the trial, covered by WJET-TV, she told her story and denied having anything to do with the robbery or Mr Wells' death.
A key witness against her was Barnes, who said she was the prime mover behind the conspiracy and was planning to use her share of the money from the robbery to hire a hitman to kill her own father, Harold Diehl, to claim his inheritance.
Diehl-Armstrong, who suffers from bi-polar disorder, was also convicted of murdering her boyfriend, James Roden, later in 2003. He was the getaway driver and she feared he would expose her role in the crime.
But during her trial she said: "I never asked him to drive a getaway car and that's not the reason he got shot."
Her testimony was laden with expletives but she also caused hilarity on occasion.
When questioned about her narcissistic personality disorder, she said: "I don't go around kissing the mirror. I'm not one who thinks I'm all that and a bag of chips. My husband used to say, 'It's a damn poor dog that doesn't wag its own tail".'
Questions remain about whether Mr Wells himself was an active conspirator. He had been a friend, or at least an acquaintance, of Barnes and Diehl-Armstrong.
Mr Piccinini said: "We have evidence that Mr Wells was at various meetings with the conspirators. And he was witnessed driving from Rothstein's house the day before the robbery.
"He wasn't just an uninvolved target. The family are obviously displeased [by our claims]."
Diehl-Armstrong was convicted of conspiracy to commit a bank robbery and possession of an explosive device in furtherance of a crime. The maximum sentence for the latter charge is life.
Prosecutors believe the collar bomb was used to ensure Mr Wells handed over the money after the robbery and, if he was caught, he could claim he was under duress.
But the dead man's brother has always rejected claims Wells was part of the plot.
John Wells said: "This is pretty much a circus show trial. Trying to incriminate Brian in his own murder is just outrageous."
He has set up his own website in which he solicits help from members of the public who he believes might be able to solve the mystery once and for all.
On his website he claims his brother is no more guilty than Richard Jewell who was cleared of involvement in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing or Dr Steven Hatfill, who was exonerated regarding the 2001 anthrax letters scare.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11098058
By Chris Summers, BBC News
Seven years ago American pizza delivery man Brian Wells was killed when a collar bomb tied around his neck blew up after he had carried out a robbery. On Monday, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, 61, was convicted over his death, but the truth about Mr Wells' own involvement remains elusive.
Cameras from a local TV station were rolling on 28 August 2003, as the 46-year-old pizza delivery man pleaded for help from police bomb squad officers.
Mr Wells, armed with a peculiar gun shaped like a walking stick, had just robbed a bank in Erie, Pennsylvania and was surrounded by police officers.
He was wearing a collar device around his neck, which he insisted was a bomb that was about to detonate.
The police have been criticised by his family for the amount of time it took them to call in a bomb squad team.
When they arrived, the collar bomb exploded before they could dismantle it. Mr Wells was killed instantly.
Fortunately WJET-TV, a local ABC affiliate, was not carrying the incident live on television at the time, although video clips of the incident have since been posted on the internet.
But ever since Mr Wells died, detectives, lawyers, friends and relatives of have been trying to piece together the events of that day to find out what really happened.
Assistant United States Attorney Marshall Piccinini said criticism of the police tactics on the day were "invalid".
Mr Piccinini said investigators had "waded through a tremendous amount of evidence and spent thousands of hours" to get to the bottom of the incident.
It appears Wells was tricked by friends, or criminal accomplices, into putting on the collar and may have been under the impression it was fake.
Confronted by the truth, he was given several handwritten letters instructing him to steal at least $250,000 from a bank in nearby Summit township, the Erie Times-News reported.
After obtaining just $8,702 from the bank, Wells was stopped by police, but he told them three people had put the bomb on him and forced him to carry out the robbery.
He can be seen on video footage calling out: "Why is nobody trying to get this thing off me?.. I haven't got a lot of time. I'm not lying."
A few seconds later the bomb went off, killing him instantly.
But who was responsible for the collar bomb?
In December 2008 Kenneth Barnes, 54, pleaded guilty and was jailed for 45 years for his role in the robbery.
A second suspect, handyman William Rothstein, died of cancer in 2004 before he could be questioned by police.
Another key player, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, 61, has just been convicted for her part in the robbery. During the trial, covered by WJET-TV, she told her story and denied having anything to do with the robbery or Mr Wells' death.
A key witness against her was Barnes, who said she was the prime mover behind the conspiracy and was planning to use her share of the money from the robbery to hire a hitman to kill her own father, Harold Diehl, to claim his inheritance.
Diehl-Armstrong, who suffers from bi-polar disorder, was also convicted of murdering her boyfriend, James Roden, later in 2003. He was the getaway driver and she feared he would expose her role in the crime.
But during her trial she said: "I never asked him to drive a getaway car and that's not the reason he got shot."
Her testimony was laden with expletives but she also caused hilarity on occasion.
When questioned about her narcissistic personality disorder, she said: "I don't go around kissing the mirror. I'm not one who thinks I'm all that and a bag of chips. My husband used to say, 'It's a damn poor dog that doesn't wag its own tail".'
Questions remain about whether Mr Wells himself was an active conspirator. He had been a friend, or at least an acquaintance, of Barnes and Diehl-Armstrong.
Mr Piccinini said: "We have evidence that Mr Wells was at various meetings with the conspirators. And he was witnessed driving from Rothstein's house the day before the robbery.
"He wasn't just an uninvolved target. The family are obviously displeased [by our claims]."
Diehl-Armstrong was convicted of conspiracy to commit a bank robbery and possession of an explosive device in furtherance of a crime. The maximum sentence for the latter charge is life.
Prosecutors believe the collar bomb was used to ensure Mr Wells handed over the money after the robbery and, if he was caught, he could claim he was under duress.
But the dead man's brother has always rejected claims Wells was part of the plot.
John Wells said: "This is pretty much a circus show trial. Trying to incriminate Brian in his own murder is just outrageous."
He has set up his own website in which he solicits help from members of the public who he believes might be able to solve the mystery once and for all.
On his website he claims his brother is no more guilty than Richard Jewell who was cleared of involvement in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing or Dr Steven Hatfill, who was exonerated regarding the 2001 anthrax letters scare.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11098058
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Long version here:
At 2:28 pm on August 28, 2003, a middle-aged pizza deliveryman named Brian Wells walked into a PNC Bank in Erie, Pennsylvania. He had a short cane in his right hand and a strange bulge under the collar of his T-shirt. Wells, 46 and balding, passed the teller a note. “Gather employees with access codes to vault and work fast to fill bag with $250,000,” it said. “You have only 15 minutes.” Then he lifted his shirt to reveal a heavy, boxlike device dangling from his neck. According to the note, it was a bomb. The teller, who told Wells there was no way to get into the vault at that time, filled a bag with cash—$8,702—and handed it over. Wells walked out, sucking on a Dum Dum lollipop he grabbed from the counter, hopped into his car, and drove off. He didn’t get far. Some 15 minutes later, state troopers spotted Wells standing outside his Geo Metro in a nearby parking lot, surrounded him, and tossed him to the pavement, cuffing his hands behind his back.
Wells told the troopers that while out on a delivery he had been accosted by a group of black men who chained the bomb around his neck at gunpoint and forced him to rob the bank. “It’s gonna go off!” he told them in desperation. “I’m not lying.” The officers called the bomb squad and took positions behind their cars, guns drawn. TV camera crews arrived and began filming. For 25 minutes Wells remained seated on the pavement, his legs curled beneath him.
“Did you call my boss?” Wells asked a trooper at one point, apparently concerned that his employer would think he was shirking his duties. Suddenly, the device started to emit an accelerating beeping noise. Wells fidgeted. It looked like he was trying to scoot backward, to somehow escape the bomb strapped to his neck. Beep… Beep… Beep. Boom! The device detonated, blasting him violently onto his back and ripping a 5-inch gash in his chest. The pizza deliveryman took a few last gasps and died on the pavement. It was 3:18 pm. The bomb squad arrived three minutes later.
CONTINUED HERE:
https://www.wired.com/2010/12/ff_collarbomb/all/1
- AUTHOR: RICH SCHAPIRO.RICH SCHAPIRO MAGAZINE
- DATE OF PUBLICATION: 12.27.10.12.27.10
- TIME OF PUBLICATION: 12:00 PM.12:00 PM
At 2:28 pm on August 28, 2003, a middle-aged pizza deliveryman named Brian Wells walked into a PNC Bank in Erie, Pennsylvania. He had a short cane in his right hand and a strange bulge under the collar of his T-shirt. Wells, 46 and balding, passed the teller a note. “Gather employees with access codes to vault and work fast to fill bag with $250,000,” it said. “You have only 15 minutes.” Then he lifted his shirt to reveal a heavy, boxlike device dangling from his neck. According to the note, it was a bomb. The teller, who told Wells there was no way to get into the vault at that time, filled a bag with cash—$8,702—and handed it over. Wells walked out, sucking on a Dum Dum lollipop he grabbed from the counter, hopped into his car, and drove off. He didn’t get far. Some 15 minutes later, state troopers spotted Wells standing outside his Geo Metro in a nearby parking lot, surrounded him, and tossed him to the pavement, cuffing his hands behind his back.
Wells told the troopers that while out on a delivery he had been accosted by a group of black men who chained the bomb around his neck at gunpoint and forced him to rob the bank. “It’s gonna go off!” he told them in desperation. “I’m not lying.” The officers called the bomb squad and took positions behind their cars, guns drawn. TV camera crews arrived and began filming. For 25 minutes Wells remained seated on the pavement, his legs curled beneath him.
“Did you call my boss?” Wells asked a trooper at one point, apparently concerned that his employer would think he was shirking his duties. Suddenly, the device started to emit an accelerating beeping noise. Wells fidgeted. It looked like he was trying to scoot backward, to somehow escape the bomb strapped to his neck. Beep… Beep… Beep. Boom! The device detonated, blasting him violently onto his back and ripping a 5-inch gash in his chest. The pizza deliveryman took a few last gasps and died on the pavement. It was 3:18 pm. The bomb squad arrived three minutes later.
CONTINUED HERE:
https://www.wired.com/2010/12/ff_collarbomb/all/1
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I'm thinking it sounds like a collaboration between Elmore Leonard and the Coen Brothers - only that would be a good film. (William H Macy for the Pizza guy, and John Goodman's got to be in there somewhere, maybe Turturro too - not sure about the female lead.)