FORT SMITH -- The second of two men arrested in the robbery of two Bank of the Ozarks employees last summer pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court.
Daniel Giles, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery in a plea agreement with the U.S. attorney's office in which charges of possessing stolen bank money and taking stolen money across state lines will be dismissed at sentencing.
No sentencing date was set Monday.
Co-defendant Romaris Smith, 29, accepted the same deal from the government and pleaded guilty last month to bank robbery.
The two were scheduled to go to trial on the charges Dec. 17, according to court records.
Court records said the two men drove up to the bank at 5401 Rogers Ave. just before 11 a.m. July 26 as the two bank employees were carrying two cash canisters containing more than $18,000 to install in an ATM.
Smith got out of the white Dodge Durango with his shirt covering his face and approached the two employees. He took the two canisters, jumped back in the Durango and drove off, the records say.
"Following the bank robbery, law enforcement officers interviewed the two bank employees who stated they were scared to death and still in fear following the bank robbery," the government said in the plea agreement.
When police arrived at the bank, one of the employees told an officer that she was on the phone with a man who had witnessed the robbery and was following the robbers.
The man told police that he was an employee of the Randall Ford dealership across Rogers Avenue from the bank and that he saw the robbery and followed the Durango to Spiro, Okla., the court records said. The man told Fort Smith police that he informed Spiro police and they took up the chase.
The Durango crashed in Spiro, and Giles and Smith ran off, records show. Giles was arrested a short time later.
Smith was arrested hours later after a gas station employee reported that a man had entered the gas station with a large bag of loose cash and began acting suspiciously, according to court records.
State Desk on 01/08/2019