Published Jan. 10, 2013, at SJ-R.com, in The State Journal-Register and in the Lincoln Courier

By Jayette Bolinski

LINCOLN — Rural banks in central Illinois towns with small or no police departments were the targets of two alleged bank robbers, at least one of whom was in desperate need of money, according to federal court documents.

Their undoing was that residents were able to provide police with a host of valuable information — from a license plate number to descriptions of the men to an observation that the getaway car was parked the wrong way in a church parking lot before the robbery.

“This is the down side for the bad guys when they target small towns,” said Sangamon County Undersheriff Jack Campbell.

“For them, the lack of law enforcement is to their advantage. To their disadvantage is that the people in small towns know who everybody is. They know who belongs there. They know what vehicles do not belong there. And when they see something out of the ordinary, they’re the ones who will take the time to notice things and jot down license plate numbers.”

A federal grand jury late Wednesday indicted two Lake Fork men — Joseph M. Allspach, 25, and Robert D. McKissic, 32 — for allegedly robbing two banks and stealing an employee’s car in September and October. The men were arrested in October.

Text messages between the two allegedly showed they considered robbing banks in small towns, such as Niantic, Petersburg, Girard, Virden and Harristown.

“Gimme some small towns to look up,” Allspach reportedly told McKissic in a text. “Need small towns with no pd.”

Allspach later sent a message to McKissic, saying, “Buffalo .” McKissic responded, “Good one huh?”

Ultimately, they robbed banks in Chestnut and Kenney and tried to rob one in Buffalo before being scared off by the sound of emergency sirens, authorities say.

Allspach, who bought heroin and had an overdrawn bank account, went into the banks and robbed them, while McKissic was more of a conspirator and get-away driver, court records say.

The federal complaint against the two men details what happened during the robberies and how the investigation unfolded.

Just after 10 a.m. Sept. 17, Allspach allegedly walked into the Bank of Chestnut wearing a dark-colored hooded zip-up sweatshirt, a green half-face mask and carrying a green cloth bag and a gun.

The robber went behind the teller counter while pointing the gun at an employee, told her to put her hands up and ordered her to open the cash drawers. He put more than $8,700 in his bag and headed for the front door. As he was leaving, he turned toward the employees, said, “Sorry for the trouble. Have a nice day,” and ran away.

None of the employees had seen the man before, they told investigators, but police found several witnesses in Chestnut who reported seeing a suspicious man near the bank several days earlier and the morning of the robbery. One witness also reported seeing a champagne-colored mid-size sport utility vehicle with a man in the driver’s seat, parked in an unusual manner in a nearby church parking lot.

Another witness said the driver had stopped her as she left her house the morning of the robbery and asked if there were any houses to rent in Chestnut. She said she noticed there were no back seats in the SUV, which seemed unusual to her.

Police found the neoprene mask the robber used and a pellet gun in some bushes nearby.

On Oct. 23, residents in Buffalo contacted the police chief and told him they had noticed a GMC Envoy parked in a place where vehicles don’t usually park. They said a man got out, walked into an alley, and circled back to the SUV. He smoked a cigarette, then walked to the front of Town and Country Bank, where he put on a stocking cap and a pair of gloves, even though it was 70 degrees outside. The man walked to the back of the bank, but then emergency sirens sounded for an unrelated training drill response for local schools. The man returned to the SUV and left, the witnesses said.

The police chief, after running the license plate number on the SUV and finding it registered to a Lake Fork woman, notified Mount Pulaski police of what had transpired.

Then, about 9:50 a.m. on Oct. 24, a man, allegedly Allspach, walked into the Kenney Bank & Trust wearing a black, single-eye mask and a dark-colored sweatshirt. The robber displayed a handgun and told a teller to open the cash drawers, then went behind the counter and filled a Dollar General bag with more than $800 cash.

The robber next told a bank employee to open the vault, where he took more than $38,000 and put it in the bag.

The robber told employees he needed someone to give him keys to a car. A teller gave him her keys, and he drove away on Illinois 54, headed toward Springfield. Police found the car a short time later abandoned on Pleasant Valley Road.

Police went to the Lake Fork residence and found McKissic, who allegedly said Allspach detailed his plan to rob the Kenney Bank that day and that he had dropped off Allspach near Kenney before the robbery.

After the robbery, McKissic said, the two men met a heroin dealer at a Dairy Queen, apparently in Decatur. Records show that Allspach then went to a Walmart on the north side of Decatur, where he stuffed a bundle into a garbage can  outside. Inside, he purchased two money orders for $1,000 each and took the money orders to the Woodforest Bank to deposit into his overdrawn bank account.

McKissic allegedly told police that he had driven Allspach to Buffalo the day before to rob a bank, but that Allspach was scared off when he heard the sirens. McKissic said Allspach gave him $200 for his help in the Chestnut robbery, but said McKissic had to pay it back. Allspach told McKissic he had to give $3,000 to his wife’s father to pay off a debt.

Allspach was arrested Oct. 24 at his home. Police said they also found a blue sweatshirt, a black ski mask and a black BB gun in a trash can outside the Walmart

Allspach allegedly admitted robbing the Chestnut bank and to almost robbing the bank in Buffalo.

Wednesday’s indictment charges the two men with two counts of armed bank robbery, one count of attempted armed bank robbery and one count of carjacking.

Their arraignment is set for 2 p.m. Monday in U.S. District Court in Springfield.