Armored truck robber gets life
Leann Dotson made a tearful plea to the judge, asking him for “a chance.” Last week Dotson, age 23, of Arnold, appeared for her sentencing and told Circuit Court Judge Kenneth W. Pratte that robbing an armored vehicle was a horrible mistake that affected numerous lives around her from the armored vehicle employees to her own family.
“I will never be able to apologize enough for what I’ve done,” she said. Her mother, Linda Ford, also made a tearful plea to the judge. She said Dotson’s three young children, ages six to 22 months, miss her and do not understand why she can’t just say “I’m sorry” and come home. She begged the judge to consider a sentence less than life for “these three innocent victims.”
Dotson’s public defender, Sarah Burton, asked the judge to sentence Dotson to just five years in prison for armed criminal action, second-degree robbery and stealing. However, Judge Pratte ended up following St. Francois County Prosecuting Attorney Wendy Wexler Horn’s recommendation of life in prison.
While Dotson says Scott Mackinnon was the one who planned the robbery, Horn told the judge that Dotson was the one who took a loaded gun and pointed it at an innocent person, threatened him, and then took his armored vehicle which had more than $100,000 in cash.
She said Dotson has received the benefit of a plea bargain. Instead of facing two life sentences and 15 years, Dotson was facing one life sentence. Horn said she finds it disturbing that Dotson’s public defender would ask for five years. She said she finds it hard to believe any jurisdiction would give a five-year sentence for such a serious offense.
During arguments, Burton described her client as an educated, steadily employed, law-abiding mother with no prior convictions until Mackinnon gained Dotson’s trust and used her to help him commit this crime. She said Dotson does take full responsibility for what she has done and cooperated fully with police. She reminded the judge that Dotson did not fire the gun or hurt anyone.
Several family members sat in the courtroom in support of Dotson. Some even wrote letters to the judge. Judge Pratte told Dotson that there are obviously people who care about her and there is a lot of pain and suffering.
“But you are the one that caused that,” he said. He said it was an extremely serious crime. He said no one was hurt but someone could have been.
According to police reports, an armored van belonging to Security Armored Car Service stopped at the Mobil station off Karsch Boulevard during the noon hour that day in August to pick up some cash and get fuel. The armed driver got out of the van and began pumping fuel, while the passenger, also an armed guard, went inside the convenience store to pick up a shipment of money.
According to police, Dotson approached the guard at the side of the van and showed a chrome revolver. She reportedly told him, “Don’t you even move.” She then jumped in the van and drove away.
Farmington Police Chief Rick Baker said the armored guard reported seeing a silver car, later identified as a Chrysler Sebring, follow the van off the parking lot. Both vehicles headed toward U.S. 67.
As word of the theft spread across police frequencies, an assortment of highway patrol officers, deputies and policemen began combing the highway, county roads and city streets.
About 30 minutes after the theft, a resident reported finding the armored van sitting in a private drive off Colony Church Road near Farmington. The engine was still running, and the doors were open on the van. The money that had been inside from previous collections in the day was missing.
Police later received several bits and pieces of information regarding sightings of the van and silver car, and a white and red pickup truck also seen with the car at one point.
It was the surveillance camera of a farmer living on the private lane off the county road where the van was found that provided the evidence that ultimately led to the quick arrests in the case. The images of the suspects’ car and truck were captured plainly by the tiny camera — and those images ultimately led to the tip that broke the case.
Baker explained that tips came in of the red and white pickup truck being spotted in western Ste. Genevieve County. The driver was identified as Mackinnon. He was located late that evening by investigators with the Farmington Police Department. He was taken into custody for questioning, and reportedly provided information regarding his girlfriend, Dotson, and her father, and their involvement in the incident.
Officers impounded Mackinnon’s red and white Chevy S-10 pickup and by early the next morning had recovered a portion of the stolen money from an address in Maplewood.
Baker said two teams were formed and surveillance began on the known addresses of Dotson and Ford. Dotson was found at her home in Jefferson County. She gave officers permission to search her home, where they found the Chrysler Sebring. She reportedly admitted her involvement in the theft to investigators.
A short time later Dotson’s dad, Eugene Ford was stopped while trying to leave his home in southern St. Louis County. A search of the car he was driving at the time turned up evidence linked to the armored van case. He would later also admit his involvement in the theft incident. Investigators searched Ford’s home after obtaining a search warrant. They recovered additional evidence related to the case, along with the gun believed to have been used by Dotson.
Baker said the investigation came together through the help of the FBI, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri Information Analysis Center, St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff’s Department, St. Louis County, Maplewood and Desloge police departments.
Mackinnon was recently sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the robbery. Ford’s case is still pending.
