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Seattle Post-Intelligencer
March 10, 2007
By P-I Staff
TACOMA -- Two of the Army Rangers held responsible for an armed holdup of a Bank of America branch pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court.
Alex Blum, 19, of Colorado, who according to court documents drove the getaway car for the robbery, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
Scott Byrne, 32, of California, who was not at the robbery but served as a "consultant" pleaded guilty to the same charge.
The robbery gained national attention because the thieves were part of the elite Ranger force based at Fort Lewis and used their training to pull off the heist.
Armed with AK-47 machine guns, they were in and out the door of the South Tacoma Way bank with about $50,000 in two minutes and 21 seconds, according to court records.
The leader of the group, Luke Sommer has since fled to his native Canada, where he is fighting extradition to the United States. He claims the robbery was a political statement aimed at drawing attention to military atrocities in Iraq.
Byrne told authorities Sommer's plan was to start an organized crime family with the cash to rival the Hells Angels of southern British Columbia. Blum is scheduled to be sentenced June 8; Byrne on June 1.
--News Services
March 10, 2007
By P-I Staff
TACOMA -- Two of the Army Rangers held responsible for an armed holdup of a Bank of America branch pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court.
Alex Blum, 19, of Colorado, who according to court documents drove the getaway car for the robbery, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
Scott Byrne, 32, of California, who was not at the robbery but served as a "consultant" pleaded guilty to the same charge.
The robbery gained national attention because the thieves were part of the elite Ranger force based at Fort Lewis and used their training to pull off the heist.
Armed with AK-47 machine guns, they were in and out the door of the South Tacoma Way bank with about $50,000 in two minutes and 21 seconds, according to court records.
The leader of the group, Luke Sommer has since fled to his native Canada, where he is fighting extradition to the United States. He claims the robbery was a political statement aimed at drawing attention to military atrocities in Iraq.
Byrne told authorities Sommer's plan was to start an organized crime family with the cash to rival the Hells Angels of southern British Columbia. Blum is scheduled to be sentenced June 8; Byrne on June 1.
--News Services