• Font Size    
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Man Pleads Guilty In '03 Erie Collar Bomb Case

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +   
Sep 3, 2008 7:16 pm US/Eastern

Man Pleads Guilty In '03 Erie Collar Bomb Case

Reporting
Harold Hayes
ERIE (KDKA) ― A man admitted his role in a bizarre bank robbery in Erie five years ago that killed a pizza deliveryman.

Kenneth Barnes, 54, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery and using a firearm to carry out that plot. The firearm was a collar bomb that exploded on pizza deliveryman Brian Wells.

According to investigators, at 1:30 p.m. on August 28, 2003, one of the conspirators called the pizza delivery shop where Wells worked directing the order to be delivered to a remote location. At 2 p.m., the collar bomb was placed on Wells but once Wells saw that the bomb was real, Wells wanted to back out. However, a gunshot fired in the air made him keep it on.

At 2:20 p.m., Wells entered the bank and at 2:32 p.m., Wells walked away with $8,700. Kenneth Barnes told investigators he got involved because of Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong who is now under psychiatric care pending her trial.

Barnes said the bank money was to be a down payment in a plot to kill her father. Barnes faces a maximum 30 years to life in prison. He'll be sentenced in December. Barnes' brother told reporters he hopes he gets life.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Featured Slideshows On KDKA.com

© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.