Crime
Two convicted in phony security guard bank heist
By: Scott McCabe
Examiner Staff Writer
December 21, 2008
Two Maryland men were found guilty late Friday in a brazen bank heist in which robbers posed as security guards and the teller helped with the crime.
David Paul Mbom, 39, of Catonsville, and Robert T. Tataw, 43, of Windsor Mill, were found guilty of bank larceny and conspiracy to steal more than a half-million dollars from a BB&T bank in Wheaton earlier this year. The defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Prosecutors originally believed the head bank teller may have been the ringleader of the scheme because she had let a man posing as an armored truck guard into the bank and walk out with $547,500 in cash. But after further investigation, investigators said she may have been coerced into helping the robbers, according to court documents.
About a month before the robbery, a man walked up to the 9-year-old daughter of Elizabeth Tarke, 41, of Olney, and pointed a gun to the girl’s head before the young child ran away. Tarke later received a letter referencing the incident with the girl and threatening to harm her daughter and her family if Tarke didn’t cooperate in the robbery which was to take place sometime the following month.
On Jan. 9, 2008, a man wearing a black security guard uniform showed up at Tarke’s bank. The man told Tarke he was filling in for the regular courier, who he said was on vacation. She approved the delivery, and he walked out of the bank with the three bags of money.
The next day, bank officials realized that they had been robbed when the official courier showed up for the scheduled pickup.
Law enforcement officials kept a surveillance team on Tarke’s home and saw Mbom leave her residence in a car driven by Tataw. Police eventually arrested the men and found tens of thousand of dollars in cash and a business card of the security guard company, and a store receipt for a black combat hat, security badge and gun holster.
Mbom and Tataw are scheduled to be sentenced April 20. Tarke pleaded guilty earlier this month to aiding and abetting the bank robbery. She faces up to 10 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 20.
David Paul Mbom, 39, of Catonsville, and Robert T. Tataw, 43, of Windsor Mill, were found guilty of bank larceny and conspiracy to steal more than a half-million dollars from a BB&T bank in Wheaton earlier this year. The defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Prosecutors originally believed the head bank teller may have been the ringleader of the scheme because she had let a man posing as an armored truck guard into the bank and walk out with $547,500 in cash. But after further investigation, investigators said she may have been coerced into helping the robbers, according to court documents.
About a month before the robbery, a man walked up to the 9-year-old daughter of Elizabeth Tarke, 41, of Olney, and pointed a gun to the girl’s head before the young child ran away. Tarke later received a letter referencing the incident with the girl and threatening to harm her daughter and her family if Tarke didn’t cooperate in the robbery which was to take place sometime the following month.
On Jan. 9, 2008, a man wearing a black security guard uniform showed up at Tarke’s bank. The man told Tarke he was filling in for the regular courier, who he said was on vacation. She approved the delivery, and he walked out of the bank with the three bags of money.
The next day, bank officials realized that they had been robbed when the official courier showed up for the scheduled pickup.
Law enforcement officials kept a surveillance team on Tarke’s home and saw Mbom leave her residence in a car driven by Tataw. Police eventually arrested the men and found tens of thousand of dollars in cash and a business card of the security guard company, and a store receipt for a black combat hat, security badge and gun holster.
Mbom and Tataw are scheduled to be sentenced April 20. Tarke pleaded guilty earlier this month to aiding and abetting the bank robbery. She faces up to 10 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 20.
