Bank robberies led to shoot-out with police
KANSAS CITY, MO. -- A Columbia man plead guilty for his role in a series of bank robberies that ended in a shoot-out with police last summer.
Michael Leak, 19, of Columbia plead guilty in federal court Wednesday morning. Leak admitted to driving the get-away car, a Buick LeSabre, and using a firearm during the robberies.
Leak and William Wolfe, 28, of Fulton are accused of robbing the Bank of Brookfield in Winigan, Mo. on July 2 and the F and C Bank in Holden, Mo.
Police spotted Leak's car three miles east of the F and C bank. When a Johnson County deputy tried to pull him over, Leak sped away. Someone inside the car fired multiple shots from a rifle at the deputy, striking his patrol car multiple times, according to court documents.
Both the deputy and the Holden police chief continued to chase the car. During the pursuit, an occupant of the get-away car continued to shoot at the police chief, striking the patrol car's windshield.
During a search for the robbers, police found the LeSabre engulfed in flames in Chilhowee, Mo. A flatbed pickup truck, stolen from a nearby home, was later found near Booneville partially submerged in the Missouri River.
A week later, on July 10, police arrested Leak and Wolfe at two separate locations. Leak was found at the Hotel Super 7 in Columbia. Wolfe was arrested at a residence in Hams Prairie.
The FBI raided the rural hideout of the two suspected bank robbers in Hams Prairie, where they found Wolfe. Both men - accused of stealing over $40,000 from three mid-Missouri banks - were arrested and brought to Kansas City to be formally charged.
"This doesn't happen here, ever," said Clarissa Lamons, a Hams Prarie resident. "It's a very quiet small town."
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Johnson County Sheriff's Department and the Holden Police Department.
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