Brett Stevens of KKDY Ozark Radio Network contributed to this story
A Memphis, Tennessee man has been sentenced to five years in federal prison without a chance for parole for robbing a southern Missouri bank last year. Bobby Yates, 26, was also ordered to pay $2,325 in restitution – the amount he stole from the Great Southern Bank in Thayer in April of last year.
Authorities say Yates asked a teller for a deposit slip, which he used to write a note demanding the teller give him money. As he was leaving the building, he ran into a door jam and dropped what appeared to be a handgun. Yates picked it up but a broken piece was left behind. It was later determined to be a piece from an Airsoft gun, a realistic-looking weapon not typically designed to be lethal.
Yates was later arrested after he robbed a bank in Millington, Tennessee.
The FBI and the Missouri Highway Patrol assisted the Thayer Police Department in their investigation.
