Thu, Nov 26 2009
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Published October 20, 2009 04:49 pm - The affidavit of an FBI special agent reveals that investigators seized $1,700 in cash, and a cat mask, a khaki hat and a motorcycle helmet at the home of suspected bank robber Richard Bratt. Authorities believe the items tie the 57-year-old Bratt to recent armed robberies of banks in Joplin, Webb City and Independence, Kan., in addition to Thursday’s robbery of the U.S. Bank in Neosho.  Investigators seize telltale mask, hat in bank robberies case w/ affidavit and criminal complaint By Jeff Lehr jlehr@joplinglobe.com The affidavit of an FBI special agent reveals that investigators seized $1,700 in cash, and a cat mask, a khaki hat and a motorcycle helmet at the home of suspected bank robber Richard Bratt. Authorities believe the items tie the 57-year-old Bratt to recent armed robberies of banks in Joplin, Webb City and Independence, Kan., in addition to Thursday’s robbery of the U.S. Bank in Neosho. The U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Missouri filed a complaint Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Springfield charging Bratt with robbery of the Neosho bank. Custody of the defendant has shifted to federal authorities in Springfield pending a detention hearing set for Friday. Bratt was charged last week in Newton County with first-degree robbery, armed criminal action and felony resisting. He was arrested in a Wal-Mart store parking lot eight minutes after the bank was robbed. “If the feds proceed with their charge, we’ll be dropping ours,” Newton County Prosecutor Jake Skouby said. He said the prosecution of state charges generally gives way to federal jurisdiction in cases in which a bank with a national association, such as U.S. Bank, is robbed. Affidavit Special Agent M. Miles Burden of the FBI revealed in an affidavit filed with the complaint in federal court that a search of Bratt’s home on Lime Kiln Road near Diamond turned up a red, white, blue and gold cat mask believed to have been used Sept. 10 by a gunman who robbed the Commerce Bank at 2980 S. McClelland Blvd. in Joplin. A khaki “boonie” hat found in Bratt’s bedroom appears to match a hat worn by the man who robbed the Commerce Bank in Webb City on July 10, according to the affidavit. In a storage shed outside the defendant’s home, a full-face motorcycle helmet was seized. Investigators believe it was used in the June 5 robbery of Commercial Bank in Independence, Kan. The affidavit states that the helmet originally was white and appeared to have been painted red recently. The gunman in the bank robbery in Independence wore a white motorcycle helmet. The affidavit states that Bratt confessed to all four bank robberies in the wake of his capture. He also allegedly admitted robbing, on May 10 and 23, respectively, the Hollywood Theaters box office and an Aldi’s grocery store in Joplin. .38-caliber handgun Bratt reportedly told investigators that he used a loaded .38-caliber handgun and wore white-striped black gloves in each of the robberies. 
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