Third pleads guilty to downstate bank heist

BENTON -- Sentencing is set for December 5th for the last of three men accused of robbing a southern Illinois bank.

Sixty-four-year-old John Brown of Evansville, Indiana, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Benton to one count of aiding and abetting armed bank robbery.

As part of a plea deal, federal prosecutors have agreed to drop two other counts.

Authorities say Brown and two other men who already have pleaded guilty took part in a July 2006 holdup of First Neighbor Bank in the Clark County town of Casey.

Investigators say the robbers made off with more than $28,000.

Sentencing is pending for the other two defendants.