Bank robbers enter guilty plea
By MICHAEL D. McELWAIN (mmcelwain@reviewonline.com)WHEELING - The two men implicated in a Nov. 2, 2007, bank robbery in Newell have entered guilty pleas in federal court.
Darrell Nelson, 43, of Youngstown, and Craig Womack, Jr., 19, of Campbell, Ohio, learned their fate Wednesday.
Evidence presented in U.S. District Court in Wheeling indicated that on Nov. 1, 2007 - one day before the armed robbery of the Northern Hancock Bank and Trust in Newell - Nelson and Womack conducted a surveillance operation in Newell.
According to the information given in court, Womack entered the bank, located at 226 Washington St., and asked the teller to change a 50-dollar bill as a subterfuge to look around and determine if there was a security guard on duty.
The very next day, Nelson and Womack again traveled to Newell with the intent to commit a bank robbery.
However, before the robbery, the two also admitted to placing a gasoline can with nails attached near the Newell Bridge as a diversion.
Fire department officials responded to the fire shortly before the bank alarm sounded.
Womack, who was the get-away driver, dropped Nelson off a few blocks away from the bank.
Nelson then entered the bank wearing a Halloween mask and a jumpsuit and shouted "trick or treat" and approached the teller counter while brandishing a silver handgun.
With the gun pointed at the tellers, Nelson said, "This is no joke, give me your money from the top drawer."
Nelson took the money and exited the bank, but he was not alone.
Bank President Mark Mangano chased Nelson down an alley at the rear of the bank. Bart McIntosh, a friend of Mangano's who was working at a business nearby, joined the chase as Nelson made his way across Washington Street and into a wooded area where the pursuit ended.
As he was being chased, Nelson dropped approximately half of the money taken from the bank, according to the plea information.
Womack, sitting in a white Chevy Blazer, panicked and drove away leaving Nelson behind.
Deputies with the Hancock County Sheriff's Department on the way to the robbery stopped the Blazer near Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort and pulled it over. Deputies identified Womack as the driver but released him when radio dispatchers alerted them that the robbery suspect was still being pursued on foot in Newell.
On Nov. 3, 2007, members of the F.B.I. approached Womack and interviewed him about his involvement in the armed robbery as well as another bank robbery in Ohio. Womack identified Nelson as the one who entered the bank in Newell and robbed it.
Nelson was arrested on Nov. 6, 2007, on state robbery charges and he provided a complete confession to the Newell robbery and two others.
All told, Nelson entered pleas of guilty Wednesday to three counts of bank robbery including the Newell armed robbery and the Sept. 7, 2007, robbery of First National Bank in Campbell, Ohio, and the Oct. 19, 2007, robbery of the Huntington Bank in North Lima, Ohio.
Nelson faces a maximum term of 25 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on the two Ohio bank robbery charges and 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on the Newell bank robbery charge.
Womack entered guilty pleas to one count of conspiracy to commit bank robbery in Newell and one count of bank robbery on Oct. 19, 2007, of the Huntington Bank in North Lima, Ohio. He faces a maximum term of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the Newell robbery and a maximum term of 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the Ohio bank robbery charge.
The two will be sentenced at a later date and appeared Wednesday before Judge Frederick P. Stamp, Jr.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randolph J. Bernard and investigated by the F.B.I. with assistance from the Hancock County Sheriff's Department.
