Three men have been charged in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., with robbing the UMB Bank at 8300 Parallel Parkway in Kansas City, Kan., at 9:15 a.m. Saturday, April 16.
Jonathan L. Dehaven, Brandon J. Wright and Darus D. Mebane were charged with robbing the bank, according to the criminal complaint. A handgun was used, the complaint stated.
The currency given to the robbers included some bait bills and two electronic tracking devices. The robbers also took two cell phones from two tellers, the complaint stated.
After the bank robbery, a high-speed chase at speeds estimated at 80 to 90 miles per hour ended at 51st and Leavenworth Road, where the suspect vehicle crashed into three other vehicles. Five persons in all, including two suspects, were injured, according to the police statement at the time.
Police recovered $20,877 in a green knapsack, according to the criminal complaint. They also recovered an orange mesh vest, a Bersa .380 semi-automatic handgun and two cell phones. A red and black Jordan sneaker was recovered that matches a footprint left on the UMB teller counter, according to the criminal complaint.
The case is being handled by attorneys in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Missouri because an assistant attorney for the U.S. attorney’s office of Kansas is a witness in the case. The case is expected to be tried in federal court in Kansas City, Kan.
The assistant U.S. attorney, according to the criminal complaint, had been planning to meet someone at UMB at 9 a.m., but was a little late, parking near the front door of the bank and waiting in her car. She observed two males entering the bank. After moving her car to a nearby spot, the assistant attorney then saw the two males exit the bank and start running across Parallel Parkway, south on North 83rd Terrace and then east on Garfield.
The assistant attorney then followed the two males in her vehicle and called 911, according to the criminal complaint. The two males eventually split up, one going north toward Quik Trip on 82nd and Parallel, and the second one cutting through the backyards of neighborhood houses, the criminal complaint stated.
Kansas City, Kan., Police Department officers tracked the suspects using two electronic tracking devices taken during the bank robbery, according to the criminal complaint.
One officer was receiving this electronic tracking information, and was at 71st and Rowland in Kansas City, Kan., when he saw a white GMC Yukon occupied by two persons, and attempted to stop it, according to the criminal complaint.
The Yukon initially stopped, but when the officer left his patrol vehicle, the Yukon took off northbound on 72nd Street, according to the court document. The officer pursued the Yukon north on 72nd and then east on Leavenworth Road, with speeds reaching 80 to 90 mph, the criminal complaint stated.
A second officer joined the pursuit at 67th and Leavenworth Road.
At 51st and Leavenworth Road, the Yukon was involved in a multi-car crash, according to the criminal complaint. Witnesses said one of the occupants of the vehicle fled on foot to the southeast, and Jonathan L. Dehaven was arrested shortly thereafter, the criminal complaint stated. He had minor injuries from the crash.
An officer stated that Darus Donte Mebane fled the area of the vehicle and ran south, and the officer pursued him on foot, according to the criminal complaint. The officer saw him jump a fence near a building on the southeast corner of the intersection. Mebane then surrendered to the officer, according to the criminal complaint. He had suffered significant injuries in the crash and was taken to the hospital, the complaint stated.
A third police officer saw an injured man on the ground directly in front of the Yukon, bleeding profusely from the head and arms, according to the criminal complaint. A witness identified the man as Brandon J. Wright, and said he had crawled out of the suspect vehicle and fallen down on the ground, according to the criminal complaint. There was a trail of blood from the back hatch door along the passenger side of the vehicle, ending where Wright was found, according to the statement in the criminal complaint. He was taken to a hospital.
Besides the involvement of the Kansas City, Kan., police officers, the case was handled by the FBI.
The suspects face 25 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 if they are convicted of the bank robbery.
