KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a bank robbery and have a suspect in custody.
Just before 3:30p.m. April 5, police were dispatched to bank robbery in progress at Goppert Financial Bank, 2100 N. Highway 7, Pleasant Hill, Missouri, according to a media release.
While responding to the scene, officers were provided with a description of the suspect and the suspect vehicle. Officers were able to locate the suspect vehicle traveling south on Highway 7 near the area of Timber Street.
Officers conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle and took the female driver later identified as 78-year-old Bonnie Gooch of Pleasant Hill into custody.
A search warrant was served on the suspect vehicle where evidence linking the woman to the bank robbery was located. On Thursday, Gooch was charged by the Cass County Prosecutors Office with Stealing or attempted stealing from a Financial Institution. Gooch is being held on a bond of $25,000 cash only.
In 2020, the Jackson County prosecutors charged Gooch in connection with a bank robbery in Lee's Summit.
She was charged with stealing more than $750, a Class-D felony.
According to court records, police were called to a Lee’s Summit home on Jan. 23, where Gooch's son told police that his mother was "off her rocker" and had stated she was going to rob a bank before she left the house.
Later that afternoon, police were called to the Bank of the West on Highway 291. Witnesses told police that Gooch handed a teller a note, demanding $3,000, according to court documents.
Gooch left after getting some cash. She was taken into custody in a Nissan SUV a short time later.
Court records said that police found the money and the note she passed to the teller inside.