KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in the murder of 70-year-old security guard Dwight Mayhugh, Sr., during an attempted armed bank robbery in 2006.
Thirplus Moose, 24, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to conspiracy to commit bank robbery, armed bank robbery with forcible restraint and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death. Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, Moose could be sentenced to 22 to 25 years in federal prison without parole.
By pleading guilty today, Moose admitted that he participated in a conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery in connection with two robbery attempts at United Missouri Bank, 7901 Wornall Road in Kansas City, in February 2006. During the second robbery attempt at the bank on Feb. 24, 2006, security guard Dwight W. Mayhugh, Sr., was fatally shot.
Moose admitted that he and a co-conspirator used a shotgun to rob United Missouri Bank on Feb. 9, 2006. During that robbery, a bank teller was confronted in an underground parking garage as she was about to enter the bank at approximately 6:40 a.m. The teller was forced to give the robbers $8,263 from a small safe behind her teller station. After returning to the parking garage, the teller was ordered to get into the trunk of her vehicle, which she repeatedly refused to do. The robbers left the bank with teller’s vehicle, which was recovered the next day after being abandoned by the robbers.
According to today’s plea agreement, Moose and the same co-conspirator returned to the bank on Feb. 24, 2006. Using a shotgun, the robbers confronted Mayhugh when he drove into the same underground parking garage. Mayhugh was shot in the right shoulder and neck from approximately 10 feet away, through the driver’s side window of his vehicle. The robbers then forced Mayhugh out of his vehicle and into the bank. They demanded access to money, but Mayhugh responded that he did not have access to bank money. The robbers then stole Mayhugh’s 2002 Geo Tracker and drove it away from the parking lot. The vehicle was recovered later the same day.
According to court documents, Mayhugh walked to the convenience store across the street from the bank and told the store clerk he had been shot. The clerk immediately called 911 for an ambulance. Another store clerk, seeing Mayhugh’s blood-soaked shirt and wounds in the neck and throat area, got a chair for him to sit on. The clerks placed towels over the wounds until paramedics arrived at the store. Mayhugh was transported to a hospital for treatment, but died from his gunshot wounds the next day.
Law enforcement officers were unable to develop substantial leads or investigative progress in the bank robberies throughout the remainder of 2006, 2007 and a portion of 2008. On Aug. 12-13, 2008, law enforcement officers conducted a large scale re-canvas of the area around 23rd Street and Oakley in Kansas City. Nearly 500 houses were targeted to be canvassed in this operation. As a result of the publicity related to this re-canvas, a Yellow Cab taxi driver came forward and provided information related to the investigation. He had not previously contacted the police, he said, because he was scared to become involved. The taxi driver told investigators that, on the morning of the bank robbery, he picked up two men in the area of 5609 E. Van Brunt (the same area where the stolen vehicles were recovered) and drove them to the area of 79th Street and Brookside ( a block east of United Missouri Bank), where he dropped them off. The taxi driver viewed surveillance photos from both bank robberies, and told investigators that the robbers looked very similar to his passengers.
Law enforcement investigators connected the telephone number that was used to call the taxi company with the telephone number provided by Moose, who had been contacted during the original canvas of the 23rd Street area on the day of the fatal bank robbery attempt. Investigators also interviewed Moose’s former girlfriend in Atlanta, Ga., who said Moose used the same cell phone to call her. During their conversation, she said, Moose told her that he had robbed a bank with a gun.
A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
