United States Attorney's Office
District of Nebraska
Joe Stecher, United States Attorney

1620 Dodge Street
Omaha, NE 68102-1506
(402) 661-3700

October 25, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


United States Attorney Joe W. Stecher and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Seward County Sheriff’s Office and the Seward Police Department announce the following information for the attention of the media:

Event Triggering this Release: Ray Mason, 52 years old, most recently from Wilber, Nebraska, was sentenced to 46 months imprisonment by the Honorable Richard G. Kopf, United States District Judge, in Lincoln, Nebraska, on October 25, 2007, for the January 3, 2007, robbery of the Jones National Bank in Seward, Nebraska.  Mason will be placed on supervised release for three years following his release from incarceration and was ordered to reimburse the bank $320 which it spent for counseling services for bank employees following the bank robbery.

Mason, who is paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair, had robbed the bank of $8,940.00 through one of the bank’s drive-in windows on January 3, 2007.  He was apprehended approximately 20 minutes later, seven miles east of Seward, and all of the cash was recovered from his vehicle.  No weapon was used during the commission of the bank robbery.

  This is Mason’s third conviction for bank robbery.  On December 18, 2001, he was sentenced to three years imprisonment following his federal conviction for the robbery of a Wells Fargo Bank branch at 66 th & O Streets, Lincoln, Nebraska, on December 28, 2000, and the robbery of the Thayer County Bank in Hebron, Nebraska, on April 21, 2001.

Name of Defendant: Ray Mason

AKA: 

Age:   52

City of Residence:   Wilber, Nebraska

Crime(s) Charged and Potential Penalty: Bank Robbery - 0-20 years imprisonment; $250,000 fine; 3 years term of supervised release, and $100 special assessment.

Specific Location of Alleged Crime: Seward, Nebraska

Location of Arrest: Seward County, Nebraska

Alleged Dollar Loss/Type and Quantity of Drug:   $8,940 (recovered when Mason was arrested)

Relevant Dates: 

Date of Alleged Crime: 01/03/2007

Federal Arrest Date: 01/03/2007

Indictment Returned Date: 01/18/2007

Initial Appearance Date: 01/26/2007

Plea or Trial and Date(s): 08/08/2007

Sentencing Date: 10/25/2007

Next Court Hearing Type and Date: N/A

Assigned Magistrate Judge: David Piester

Held without Bond, or Released from Custody: Held  

In Continuous Custody Since: 01/03/2007

Assigned District Court Judge: Richard Kopf

Initials of Assigned AUSA/Preparer of THIS Release: ALE

 




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