St. Paul man pleads guilty in bank robbery

A St. Paul man has pleaded guilty in a bank robbery in which a teller was briefly taken hostage and a shot fired at a security guard.

Fifty-seven-year-old Robert Russell pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to armed bank robbery.

Russell admitted stealing more than $1,400 from the Park Midway Bank in St. Paul last August.

Prosecutors say Russell demanded cash, then forced a teller to leave with him and fired at a security guard who ran after him.

Court documents say Russell fled in a van, stopped at a Walmart in Stillwater where he bought clothes and a backpack, then headed to Wisconsin.

A trooper pulled the van over in Jefferson County after Russell crashed into the back of a semi. About $1,360 was found in the backpack.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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