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ERIE, Pa. – A man who took part in a bizarre bank robbery plot that turned deadly when a bomb affixed to the neck of a pizza deliveryman exploded was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison Wednesday. Kenneth Barnes was "intimately involved" in the plot and not just a minor player, U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin said. Barnes suggested bomb parts, provided magazine articles about bomb making and was present when the bomb was put on Brian Wells before he robbed a bank in 2003, McLaughlin said.

A defense attorney says his client will plead guilty to conspiracy in a bizarre 2003 bank robbery that led to the collar-bomb death of a Pennsylvania pizza delivery man. Attorney Jamie Mead of Erie said Friday that Kenneth Barnes will plead guilty Wednesday to his role in planning the heist.

ERIE, Pa. — A pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and was killed when the bomb around his neck exploded wasn't a hostage — he was a conspirator in the plot, federal authorities said Wednesday. The deliveryman, Brian Wells, 46, had told police before the bomb exploded in August 2003 that he was an innocent victim and had been forced by gunmen to rob the bank. However, in the indictments unsealed Wednesday, Wells is named as a co-conspirator. Two other people, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and her friend Kenneth E. Barnes, are charged with bank robbery, conspiracy and a firearms count.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two people are expected to be charged Wednesday in connection with the bizarre 2003 case in which a pizza deliveryman died after a collar bomb attached to him exploded, CNN has learned. Brian Wells died August 28, 2003, in Erie, Pennsylvania, after he claimed gunmen grabbed him, locked the bomb around his neck and ordered him to rob a bank. Police detained him following the robbery, and the device exploded as he waited on the pavement. A bomb squad was en route to the scene but did not arrive in time. Authorities have not said whether they...

ERIE, Pa. (AP) - Recently released images of a pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank, then was killed by a bomb fastened around his neck, suggest he was unaware of any threat to his life, according to the FBI. Two years after the death of Brian Wells, authorities have made no arrests and are unable to say whether he was a willing participant or victim. The bank surveillance photographs show Wells, 46, of Erie, sucking on a lollipop in the PNC Bank at Summit Towne Centre on Aug. 28, 2003, the day of the robbery. Wells' demeanor inside the bank...

ERIE, Pa. - A pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank, then was killed by a bomb fastened around his neck, was told he had just 55 minutes to disarm the explosive, according to details from a coroner's report. Brian Wells, 46, died shortly after the Aug. 28 robbery. He told police who apprehended him that he had been forced to rob the bank by someone who locked the collar bomb around his neck. Authorities surrounded Wells and were waiting for a bomb squad to arrive when the device detonated. The report by the Erie County Coroner's Office includes previously unreleased...

Does anyone remember the story from summer of last year? The pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and subsequently was blown up by a bomb attached around his neck? Whatever happened with that? I was just a lurker then, but I remember there was significant Freeper interest. There was a lot of speculation and the story was fascinating. But I can find no updates. Did they determine that he was telling the truth or did he place the bomb on himself? Did the FBI get anywhere in their investigation? The story dominated the news for a few days, but then...

FBI Releases Handwritten Note Found With Bank Robber Killed by Bomb By Judy Lin Associated Press Writer Published: Feb 10, 2004 ERIE, Pa. (AP) - A nine-page handwritten note found in the car of a pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank, then was killed by a bomb fastened around his neck, warned that he would be "destroyed" if police were notified of the plot. Portions of the note released Tuesday by the FBI contained detailed instructions, including a drawing of the McDonald's arches where the deliveryman was to take the money, and the warning: "Act now, think later or you...

(Excerpt required.) The FBI is considering a new way of casting for leads in the Brian Wells case. Agents are leaning toward releasing part of the detailed note the 46-year-old pizza deliveryman was given before his bombing death. The FBI could release the passages as early as this week. The note, believed to be several pages long, contains directions and a variety of terms, including the word "troubleshooter," according to the FBI. "We are reviewing the note and considering releasing parts of it for lead value," Bob Rudge, the special agent in charge of the Erie FBI office, said Tuesday....

Four misdemeanor charges have been filed against William Rothstein, the man who police say helped Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong move the body of a murder victim into a freezer. Rothstein is free on Bond. He faces charges stemming from transporting a corpse, and moving the body into a chest freezer with a pulley system. He has been specifically charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and two other conspiracy charges. In Pennsylvania, those charges are only misdemeanors. Each carries a maximum sentence of two years. Rothstein’s lawyer, Gene Placidi also says his client was served with a search warrant Thursday...

<p>William Rothstein wrote a suicide note in which he proclaimed his innocence in the death of pizza deliveryman Brian Wells.</p> <p>But Rothstein, the very-much alive handyman accused of helping Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong cover up a murder, is still not out of the FBI's scope of investigation in Wells' Aug. 28 bombing death.</p>

<p>PITTSBURGH — A man who police say helped a woman hide the body of her roommate in his freezer wrote a suicide note in which he proclaimed his innocence in the case of a pizza deliveryman who died when a bomb locked to his neck exploded, a person involved in the investigation said Saturday.</p>

The FBI has posted the gun used by Brian Wells, the man who robbed the bank in Erie, Pennsylvania and died when the neck bomb he was wearing detonated.

A pizza delivery man who robbed a bank and was killed by a bomb locked to his neck was once arrested after allegedly threatening neighbors and a judge, according to a police report. Brian Wells apparently called a judge in 1991, saying he wanted his neighbors evicted from their home in Erie or he would "put a bullet in their heads," the Erie Times-News reported Saturday, citing a police report. Wells, 46, died Aug. 28 after robbing a bank near Erie. Before he died, Wells told police he had been forced to rob the bank by someone who locked the...

Investigators into the bombing death of Brian Wells were back in Summit Township on Tuesday looking for evidence in connection with Wells’ reported claim that he was apprehended at gunpoint and then shot at before he robbed a bank wearing a bomb. Meanwhile, the FBI is also still looking for two men who were seen at locations connected to the August 28th PNC bank robbery Erie County Deputy Coroner Korac Timon says that Wells` wounds from that bomb were superficial, but it was the primary blast, or the energy and percussion of that bomb that actually killed him. And after...

The FBI released sketches of two people seen near places Brian Wells was supposed to go after robbing the bank. (CNN) --The FBI said Monday the pizza deliveryman who robbed an Erie, Pennsylvania, bank with a bomb locked around his neck probably was not acting alone -- but it was unclear whether he was involved in the plot or was its victim. Brian Douglas Wells, 46, died August 28 when the bomb exploded shortly after police stopped him following the bank robbery. Investigators have found no evidence to support the scenario that Wells acted alone in carrying out the robbery,...

2 Men Sought in Bomb Death After Robbery By JAMES DAO ASHINGTON, Sept. 8 — The F.B.I. today released drawings of two men wanted for questioning in a bank robbery in Erie, Pa., last month that resulted in the death of a pizza deliveryman. The victim, Brian D. Wells, was killed when a bomb locked around his neck exploded shortly after he robbed a PNC Bank on Aug. 28. Before he died, Mr. Wells told the police that he had been forced by unknown assailants to wear the weapon and rob the bank. Investigators said today in a news conference...

Frustrated so far in their investigation of a stranger-than-fiction bank robbery, investigators on Monday were scheduled to hold a news conference at which they were expected to release details of a robbery note carried by a pizza deliveryman who was locked to a time bomb. Scheduled for 15:00 ET 09/08/03.

The FBI is trying to find two men to question in connection with the bombing death of pizza deliveryman Brian Wells on Aug. 28. Officials released composite sketches of the pair -- one a muscular black man and the other a white man with straight hair -- at a 30-minute news conference today. The FBI has not called the men suspects, but said agents want to question them because they were seen running in the area around Peach Street and Interchange Road at the time of Wells' death. The FBI today also said that Wells carried a multipage note that...

<p>Cops are baffled by the case of pizza deliveryman Brian Wells.</p> <p>September 7, 2003 -- ERIE, Pa. - Four hidden keys may have saved Brian Wells from being blown up by the pipe bomb that was shackled to his neck. Wells was the 46-year-old pizza delivery man who was killed by the bomb 40 minutes after robbing a PNC Bank in Erie on Aug. 28.</p>