Collar Key In Deliveryman Death (Erie pizza delivery bank robbery bomber)

CBS/AP ^ | 9-2-2003 | no byline

[weegee]

(CBS/AP) The FBI on Tuesday released photos of a metal collar found around the neck of a pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and then was killed when a bomb strapped to his body exploded.

FBI Agent Bob Rudge said the bureau hopes that by releasing the photos of the collar and locking device, someone may come forward to help law enforcement solve the strange case.

A preliminary exam performed on the collar showed that it was likely not commercially manufactured, Rudge said Tuesday.

"We do not believe it has any legitimate industrial use," said Rudge. "Its most likely purpose was specifically for attaching the device to the neck of the individual that went into the PNC Bank.

Arrested Thursday after a bank robbery, Brian Douglas Wells told authorities someone had forced him to rob the bank. He told officers a bomb was attached to him, but he died when it exploded before the bomb squad could get there.

At a news conference Tuesday, Rudge showed photographs of the triple-banded metal collar he said was around Wells' neck and a lock that kept it in place. The bomb was attached to the collar, authorities said.

Police had surrounded Wells, 46, a short time after he robbed a PNC Bank branch outside Erie in northwestern Pennsylvania. Wells had gone to deliver a pizza to a mysterious address in a remote area about an hour before he turned up at the bank with the bomb strapped to his body.

When police stopped Wells, he told them about the bomb and asked why authorities weren't helping to get it off him. Police backed off and were waiting for the bomb squad when the bomb exploded. No one else was injured.

According to police and the FBI, Wells produced an "extensive" robbery note at the bank, which has been sent to handwriting experts. Rudge did not release any additional information about the note Tuesday.

I think there is a possibility of up to 80 percent that this individual is innocent," Professor Robert Heibel, a retired FBI agent, told CBS News Correspondent Mika Brzezinski.

Heibel said Wells likely was set up, a tactic more common to drug runners or terrorists than bank robbers.

"He was being threatened that if he didn't rob the bank, once they hung that device around his neck let's say, then he becomes their patsy," Heibel said. "There are a number of ways they could have convinced him that it is a live device and from there on he is really at their mercy."

Meanwhile, officials released information from an autopsy on one of Wells' co-workers, Robert Pinetti, 43, who was found dead Sunday at his home in nearby Lawrence Park Township. Authorities do not know if his death is connected with Wells' case.

Pinetti had a history of substance abuse and preliminary testing appeared to show methadone and "valium-type" drugs in his system, authorities said. There was no trauma, officials said.

[firewalk]

bttt

[Sacajaweau]

What ever happened to the Pizza? Was it still in this dude's car?

[Diva Betsy Ross]

I don't know but PNC is our bank. That is the branch we use.

[Sloth]

A preliminary exam performed on the collar showed that it was likely not commercially manufactured, Rudge said Tuesday.

I'd imagine a company in the business of manufacturing bomb-securing metal collars for bank robbers would not get much business.

[Sacajaweau]

Okay, I've read that the CIA and FBI are both involved in this. Is that really true? I just read a BBC news item referring to this affair as a riddle. I also remember one of the big boy al queda referring to a riddle told by Atta.

Do I have a vivid imagination or what?? Get on national TV, send a message and wipe yourself out!! We need to know MORE about this dude.

[alisasny]

Saw video a few times. Cops were near and looking like nothing was terribly wrong going on. A few had guns drawn for the poor perp begging for his life with his hands tied behind his back. That poor man. Totally let down by society. True shame, beyond a tragedy.

[cmsgop]

You must be kinda freaked out.

[weegee]

If there was, you can bet that there would be a 7 day waiting period on such sales.

[weegee]

The bank note was supposed to be long and detailed. It may have contained other threats or political statements.

The Tampa teen kamikaze pilot's suicide letter included a threat against the Super Bowl (and it was withheld from the public until after that event).

[JLS]

I agree this was a tough situation for the police. But several of my suggestions just required asking the guy some question. Heck give him a cell and talk to him while you are protecting yourself from the bomb.

The questions I suggested would have helped the police with the case after the bomb went off. Again:

1. Who put the bomb on you?

2. Whether you know who or not, how were you to deliver the money to them?

3. Where, ie in what location, did they put the bomb on you?

4. Being a human being telling the guy that the bomb squad is on the way and to hang in there.

Even if he was some nut bank robber, there was no harm in reassuring him that you had called the bomb squad. And there was information to be learned about this crime while he was alive.

[Domestic Church]

I wonder if it might have been used on a young elephant foot or some such jungle beastie.

[GrandmaPatriot]

I hadn't thought of that. Could be. I just hope if this guy was innocent, they find the perps and fry them.

[wolficatZ]

copy/paste in realplayer

rtsp://real.cbsig.net:554/cbsnews/2003/09/02/video571271.rm

[cake_crumb]

Yes, it IS a very grusome and upsetting video.

[Travis McGee]

Check the pick at 29. What's the render safe procedure you would attempt if the woman was your beloved wife, mother, daughter etc???

Basque ETA terrorists started doing this diabolical s#it in the 1980s. If captured, I would apply methods which would take at least a week to kill them.

[Travis McGee]

I can't imagine being 46 & having to live on minumum wage plus the kinds of tips people give pizza delivery men. Especially if I were trying to provide for somebody.

Have mercy. Most of them are working the delivery routine as a 2nd or even 3rd job to feed a family.

[Semper911]

I'd like to know how they got the collar off of him after it blew. It doesn't look cut in the pic.