Suspect out of prison barely one year before bank robbery
Suspect out of prison barely one year before bank robbery
By Ken Childers
ONL Editor
The man accused of robbing BancFirst in Paden at gunpoint last month spent much of the last decade behind bars and had been out of federal prison for less than 13 months when the robbery occurred.
Bobby Ray Scott III, 42, of Shawnee was indicted by a federal grand jury last week on charges of bank robbery and, if convicted, faces life in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both. The indictment alleges that in the course of the robbery, Scott “did assault and put in jeopardy the life of another person by the use of a dangerous weapon, that is a firearm.”
According to Oklahoma Department of Corrections records, Scott was in and out of the state prison system between 1995 and 2017, including a multi-year stint that began in January 2011. Federal Bureau of Prisons records indicate he was released from a federal penitentiary on May 19, 2019.
Scott’s rap sheet includes charges of second-degree burglary, assault and battery, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, knowingly concealing stolen property, eluding a police officer and driving with an invalid driver’s license.
On Oct. 13, 2010, Scott appeared for sentencing following his plea of guilty to the state crime of Burglary in the Second Degree on Indian Land, and was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison, according to court documents.
At the time of sentencing, he was in state custody awaiting trial in Tulsa County District Court on a case that alleged two counts of distribution of controlled substances, as well as another case alleging two counts of kidnapping and three counts of robbery with a firearm.
Scott was sentenced on Oct. 22, 2010 to a 10-year custody term in the drug case and a 17-year imprisonment term in the robbery case, to run concurrently with each other. The state court further ordered both sentences to run concurrently with the federal prison term.
Just before 2 p.m. on Friday, June 12, Scott allegedly walked into BancFirst Paden and verbally demanded money while brandishing a pistol. He made off with an undisclosed amount of cash then headed west in a newer model white Jeep Cherokee.
The current charges arose from an investigation by the Okfuskee County Sheriff’s Office, the Homeland Security Investigations Task Force, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Trails Task Force.
The Oklahoma Safe Trails Task Force is comprised of the FBI and nine partner agencies including Muscogee Creek Nation Lighthorse Police, Okmulgee Police Department, Okmulgee Sheriff’s Office, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, District 25 District Attorney’s Investigators, Cherokee Nation Police, Tahlequah Police Department, and Wagoner Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Dean Burris represents the United States.
