July 30, 2009 10:27 pm
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By Greg Grisolano
ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com
CHEROKEE, Kan. — Neighbors say Billy Appier is usually a regular for coffee and breakfast at Cookie’s Diner on Magnolia Street in Cherokee, but the “grandfatherly” 71-year-old had not been coming around for about two weeks.
Appier was arrested Wednesday afternoon after allegedly trying to rob a U.S. Bank branch at the Northpark Mall complex in Joplin, Mo. He is charged with a felony count of first-degree attempted robbery and is being held in the Jasper County Jail on $50,000 bond.
Bomb threat
Peggy Ashbaugh said she thought her customers were trying to put one over on her Thursday morning when they told her that one of the diner’s regulars had been arrested in connection with a bank-robbery attempt.
“When I found out about it, I thought the guys were pulling my leg,” said Ashbaugh, manager of Cookie’s Diner. “I couldn’t believe it; I was totally shocked.
“He had a grandfatherly heart, and he was always trying to help anybody that he could.”
Law enforcement, including the FBI, converged before noon Wednesday on the bank after receiving calls about a robbery at the branch at 105 N. Range Line Road.
Appier reportedly told bank employees that he had planted a bomb on the roof, and demanded $100,000 in loose, nonconsecutive, old bills.
A probable-cause statement alleges that Appier visited the bank on two previous occasions, including one on Tuesday. During that visit, Appier reportedly had a conversation with a bank employee in which he discussed his experience making bombs while a member of the U.S. military, and “how much C-4 (plastic explosive) it would take to blow up the U.S. Bank.” It also states that police recovered a loaded handgun from Appier when he was arrested while leaving the bank, but the weapon apparently was not displayed in the alleged robbery attempt.
‘Out of character’
Ashbaugh said Appier has survived two strokes since 2004, and that the effects sometimes affected his memory and actions.
“There was odd little stuff,” she said. “He’d park his car out front and leave it running. He’d be here for a good hour, hour and a half, and his car would sit out there and run.”
She said she believes Appier’s alleged actions are “totally out of character for him.”
“He either is off his meds or he’s had another stroke, because this is totally unlike him,” she said.
Victims of stroke can sometimes suffer from changes in personality and cognitive function, according to a local geriatric psychiatrist.
“Certainly vascular injury can affect cognition,” said Dr. Mark Stewart, medical director of the Senior Serenity Program with Freeman Health System in Joplin. “Dementia is probably most known as being caused by Alzheimer’s disease. But the second most common cause is cerebral vascular disease.”
Stewart declined to speak specifically about the potential implications of such a condition on Appier, but he spoke generally about the manifestations in patients.
“Having a vascular dementia can sometimes make (diagnosis) a little more complex because there may be islands of reserve functioning,” he said. “When you talk about cognitive impairment, maybe a person’s short-term memory isn’t as impacted as their long-term memory. They can still plan tasks.”
Joplin police Cpl. Chuck Niess said that after Appier was arrested, his only words to investigators were a request to speak to a lawyer.
Candidate, chaplain
Appier ran for the Crawford County Commission in November 2006 and finished second in a three-man race with more than 26 percent of the vote.
“I honestly haven’t heard a thing out of him since that time,” said Commissioner Bob Kmiec, who defeated Appier in that election. “It sure surprises me. Something must be wrong to push him to something like that.”
In a Globe interview ahead of the 2006 election, Appier said he had been a small-business owner and had served for 16 years as a volunteer chaplain at the Crawford County Jail.
Crawford County Sheriff Sandy Horton said he remembers Appier from his ministerial work at the jail.
“It was a positive thing for the inmates,” he said. “I felt he was dependable.”
Horton said it has been “several years” since Appier volunteered for those duties, and that the jail has employed Salvation Army volunteers for some time.
2003 bankruptcy
Federal court documents show that Billy L. Appier filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in 2003. He listed more than $90,000 in debt to creditors, according to court documents. Appier was granted bankruptcy status in August 2003.
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Photos
Billy Appier