Smith goes to trial for bank robbery
One of the suspects charged in connection with the robbery at Unico Bank last year has a trial date set.
Mark Smith is charged with second-degree robbery. Smith’s case is scheduled for trial on Jan. 6 in Ste. Genevieve County on a change of venue from Washington County.
His bond is set at $100,000.
Justin E. Parker is also charged with second-degree robbery. His case isn’t set for trial yet. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13.
Police believe Parker entered Unico Bank in Potosi on Dec. 2 and handed the clerk a note, demanding money. He was given the money and then fled on foot. Police believe Smith was Parker’s accomplice.
According to the probable cause statement, 10 minutes before the robbery at Unico Bank in Potosi, Smith walked into the bank and asked for change for a $10 bill. Surveillance footage shows him walk around the back side of the bank and past a fence toward an apartment complex.
Parker then entered the bank and gave a note to a teller demanding money. He was given money and fled on foot. Surveillance shows him scale a fence behind the bank and run toward an apartment complex.
A witness saw a black Dodge truck leave the apartment complex at a high rate of speed turning south on Route U. The witness said a bottle of gin was thrown from the vehicle.
Surveillance at a nearby gas station earlier that day shows the two exiting a black Dodge truck and entering the store together before the robbery. There they purchased a bottle of gin.
A citizen identified the primary robbery suspect as Parker and he turned himself in to police a few days after the robbery.
Days after the robbery, Smith was found in St. Louis in the same truck used in the robbery. He was found in possession of about $1,000 in cash. Two of the $20 bills were marked bills that were stolen in the robbery.
The investigation was handled by the Potosi Police Department, Washington County Sheriff’s Department, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol with assistance by the St. Louis Police Department.
