FBI: Collar-bomb victim was not just a hostage

ERIE, Pa. - A pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and was then blown up by a bomb locked around his neck helped plan the robbery and then got caught up in something “much more sinister,” a federal prosecutor 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, who is currently serving a prison sentence for killing her boyfriend, and her friend Kenneth E. Barnes — are charged with bank robbery, conspiracy and a firearms count.

Authorities said Diehl-Armstrong, 58, wanted the money so she could pay someone to kill her father, but they said Wednesday that they didn’t know what motive Wells might have had for getting involved.

“Greed was their inspiration,” said Mark Potter, special agent in charge of the Philadelphia division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. “Death was just a byproduct of their evil scheme.”

Wells’ brother John was visibly outraged after prosecutors held a news conference saying his brother was in on the plot.

“Where is the evidence? There is no evidence. You cannot link a man when there is no evidence,” John Wells said, his voice trembling with anger. “When he was accosted at gunpoint, taken from his job, that’s not a co-conspirator.”

“Brian did not put that collar on himself,” John Wells said. He also accused investigators of not doing their jobs and said “the truth will come out.”

Bomb was real — and deadly
The indictments say Diehl-Armstrong and Barnes contrived a series of notes to make Wells appear to be “merely a hostage,” with the plan being to get the money from Wells in a way that if he was caught, he could claim he was an unwilling participant. According to the indictments, they locked a live bomb onto Well’s neck to ensure he turned over the money.

“If he died, he could not be a witness,” authorities said in the indictment.

The bomb that killed Wells was on a timer, but it was unclear if his co-conspirators planned on his death, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said Wednesday. She described Wells as having a limited role in the plot and said she couldn’t comment on what his motive might have been.

MSNBC video Family speaks out July 11: The brother of the deliveryman says the victim was not a willing participant in the plot. MSNBC

“Sadly, the plans of these other individuals were much more sinister ... and he died as a result,” Buchanan said. “It may be that his role transitioned from that of the planing stages to being an unwilling participant in the scheme.”

Already serving time
Diehl-Armstrong is currently serving a state prison sentence for killing her boyfriend, James Roden. In the indictment, authorities say she killed Roden to keep him from disclosing details of the robbery plot.

Barnes, 53, is jailed in Erie County on unrelated drug charges. Authorities have described him as Diehl-Armstrong’s fishing companion.

On Aug. 28, 2003, Wells set out to deliver an order for two pizzas to a mysterious address that turned out to be the location of a TV tower. He turned up about an hour later and roughly two miles away at a PNC Bank branch in Summit Township, with a note demanding money and saying he had a bomb.

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