Iowa dad pleads guilty in persuading daughter to rob bank

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) - A 45-year-old Davenport man has pleaded guilty to persuading his daughter to rob a bank for him.

Albert Griebe pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to commit bank robbery and aiding and abetting an attempted bank robbery, the Quad-City Times reported (http://bit.ly/1tDkPTI ). He will be sentenced in late April.

According to the plea agreement, Griebe said he convinced his 23-year-old daughter, Mercedes Griebe, to rob a U.S. Bank in July.

Authorities said Griebe's daughter failed on her first try, because she was too scared. Instead, she talked with an employee about opening an account and got a pamphlet with the employee's business card.

Griebe talked to her again and she agreed, according to the plea deal. Two days later, his daughter passed a note to a teller that demanded money, and the teller gave her $9,921.

Police said employees recognized the robber as a woman who had previously visited the bank. They then obtained search warrants for Mercedes Griebe's Des Moines home, where they found the bank pamphlet and receipts for several recent purchases, and her father's Davenport home, where they found hats identical to those she wore during the robbery and her earlier bank visit.

Mercedes Griebe then told police that she robbed the bank at her father's insistence, according to the plea agreement.

Prosecutors said Albert Griebe had convinced others to rob banks for him in the past and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in 2003 for aiding and abetting a robbery by force. He was still on supervised release at the time of the July robbery.

Mercedes Griebe pleaded guilty to second-degree theft in October. She will be sentenced Feb. 18.

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Information from: Quad-City Times, http://www.qctimes.com