A verdict could come today in the federal jury trial of a man accused of committing a string of armed robberies across Northeast Texas in 2015.
Bobby Wayne Lance, 50, is accused of holding up a Lamar County movie theater Nov. 8, 2015, a Bowie County convenience store Nov. 14, 2015, and a Franklin County bank Nov. 17, 2015. Lance allegedly carried a small chrome revolver and attempted to disguise his face with panty hose during all the crimes.
Wednesday the jury heard testimony from Sam Rich, a federal inmate who was housed in the same pod with Bobby Lance for 11 months in the Bowie County jail. Under questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Locker, Rich spoke of his addiction to methamphetamine and attempts to "turn over a new leaf."
Rich testified that Bobby Lance confided many details about the robberies to him which FBI Special Agent Jim Spiropoulos later testified had never been publicly available when he interviewed Rich in January. Rich said Bobby Lance spoke primarily about the Nov. 17, 2015, robbery of First National Bank of Mount Vernon, Cypress Springs Branch.
Rich said Bobby Lance told him he wore a "hunter hoodie" during the bank heist, panty hose on his head, gloves and "hunter's paint" on his face to make himself appear non-white. Shannon Oliver and Jeremy Byrd, the two employees in the bank when it was robbed, described their assailant as a "light skinned black man" and "Hispanic," wearing a bright orange hoodie, in their initial interviews with law enforcement.
Rich said Bobby Lance described the small bank as a "portable building" though Spiropoulos later described it as a "temporary building." Rich accurately described the location of the bank's vault and testified Bobby Lance told him he brought his own bag to carry the loot, a detail Spiropoulos testified was never released to the media.
Rich testified that Bobby Lance told him he bought a new set of tires after the bank robbery because he was concerned law enforcement might have acquired an impression of his truck's tire tread left in the earth while it was briefly in proximity to a grey Ford F-150 stolen from the bank manager. Rich claimed Bobby Lance told him his brother, Frank Lance, dropped him off near the bank and picked him up after the robbery. Frank Lance has not been charged with any crime in connection with the robberies for which Bobby Lance is on trial.
Rich said Bobby Lance told him he'd separated the cash from his exploits into two bags, one for him and one for his brother, with whom Bobby Lance was living at the time of his arrest Nov. 20, 2015, in Avery, Texas. Rich said Bobby Lance described hiding the bags of cash in his dryer, which is where members of law enforcement testified the money was found during a search the day of Bobby Lance's arrest.
Rich testified that Lance, "kept telling me he was going to be convicted for his mustache, so he shaved it off."
In his Texas driver's license photo and mugshot, Lance has a distinctive, thick mustache. During his trial this week in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas, Lance has a clean-shaven appearance.
Rich said Lance expressed concern to him about bait bills taken by the bank robber which were among the currency seized during the search of Lance's home and mentioned that he had "really scared," the clerk at Carter's store in DeKalb. Regina Wise testified Tuesday that she never returned to her job at the store and that she required medical attention by paramedics afterward because she had difficulty breathing.
Under cross examination by Texarkana lawyer Jeff Harrelson, Rich denied his testimony is motivated by a desire to lessen his federal prison sentence for methamphetamine distribution.
"So you're just here because you're a good guy," Harrelson asked.
Bobby Lance allegedly told Rich he also used some of the robbery funds to gamble at Oklahoma casinos. Choctaw Nation gaming commissioner Paula Penz testified that Bobby Lance won slots jackpots totaling more than $22,000 beginning at 4:57 p.m. the same day the bank in Franklin County was robbed shortly before 1:30 p.m. Penz said Bobby Lance collected jackpots until the early hours of Nov. 18.
Under questioning from Locker, Penz said there is no way to tell how much money Bobby Lance lost gambling because he did not use an optional player's card which tracks how much a gambler spends. Under questioning from Harrelson, Penz testified that Lance could have won even more than was recorded by the casino if the jackpots were below the $1,200 the law requires must be reported.
Kelly Johnson of Clarksville, Texas, testified that Bobby Lance told her he won money gambling when he gave her $2,300 in cash Nov. 20, 2015, to pay off the note on his Dodge pickup, under questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross. Under questioning from Harrelson, Johnson said that while Bobby Lance's payments were at times late, they were regular and always made in cash.
Spiropoulos testified that receipts for a number of past due accounts paid up by Bobby Lance in the days after the bank robbery and before Bobby Lance was arrested, were discovered during the search of his truck and home Nov. 20.
"It appears he was in financial distress," Spiropoulos testified under questioning from Locker. "He was in danger of having his utilities cut off."
As Spiropoulos testified, the jury heard recordings of jailhouse conversations between Bobby Lance and the mother of his children, Shannon Soto. In the recordings, the two discuss boots, a lack of bank wrappers on the cash seized from the Lance home, and the location of a gun.
Investigators did not find the orange hoodie worn by the bank robber, a plaid jacket worn during the movie theater and Carter's store robberies, or a pair of brown leather, lace-up, steel toed boots, seen in video footage from the bank and Carter's store hold-ups.
Brother and sister Antonio Lopez and Lilly Lopez, whose father owns Lopez Logging, testified that Bobby Lance worked as a driver for the family's business until some time in the fall of 2015. Both testified that they have seen Bobby Lance wear the bright orange hoodie depicted in the bank surveillance footage and the plaid jacket worn by the Carter's store robber. Both identified Bobby Lance as the man holding a gun in photos from both robberies.
The first witness to testify Wednesday was Texarkana, Texas, crime scene analyst Spencer Price. Price testified that the gun collected from Bobby Lance's home in 2015 appears dingy today because it still has fine black powder coating the chrome because of an unsuccessful attempt to collect fingerprints from the pistol after it was found in a shed behind Lance's home. Price said he did find impressions consistent with fabric, such as one might find from gloves or a cleaning rag.
Brady Pierce, who was working in the Movies 8 Theater in Paris, Texas, when it was robbed Nov. 8, 2015, testified Monday that the gun shown to him in court wasn't the same as the one he recalls because it was "duller."
The last of the government's witnesses is expected to take the stand in a third-floor courtroom of Texarkana's downtown federal building this morning. Once the government rests its case, Harrelson may call witnesses to testify for the defense. U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder will give the jury instructions on the law they must follow during their deliberations before both sides make closing arguments.
Each of the three robberies is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison and the carjacking is punishable by up to 15 years, Locker said. Four other counts listed in Lance's eight-count indictment allege carrying a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Locker said the total sentences for the firearm counts could mean up to 82 years in federal prison in addition to the sentences Lance could receive for the underlying robberies. If found guilty of any of the charges, Lance will be sentenced by Schroeder at a later date.