Joplin bank robber sentenced

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·2 min read

Mar. 1—A Kansas City man who robbed the Great Southern Bank in Joplin on the same day he robbed a bank in Kansas was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in a federal prison.

Leland S. Graham, 59, stole $24,478 from the Great Southern Bank in Joplin on July 19, 2021, dropping and leaving behind another $5,000 on the floor as he made his getaway.

Several hours before that robbery, Graham had hit the Landmark National Bank in Louisburg, Kansas, according to a news release Wednesday from the U.S. attorney's office in Springfield announcing his sentencing.

Graham, who pleaded guilty Aug. 2 to the Joplin robbery two years ago, had been convicted in 2004 of robbing two Joplin banks — the Great Southern Bank and First State Bank — and was sentenced to 20 years in prison but paroled in 2020.

U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes assessed him eight years without parole at a sentencing hearing Wednesday in federal court in Springfield.

Graham walked into Great Southern Bank in 2021 with what appeared to be a handgun, although he later told investigators that it was actually a black handled screwdriver he had in his waistband. He told a teller: "This is a gun. Do you want me to shoot you?" The release from the U.S. attorney's office said he then turned to another bank employee and threatened: "Hurry up or I will shoot you."

Joplin police released surveillance images from the bank to the media shortly after the robbery, asking for the public's assistance in identifying the suspect and soon received a tip naming Graham.

Detectives then used his cellphone to trace his location to Kansas City, where police tried to stop a Dodge van he was driving, but he led them on a high-speed pursuit through residential neighborhoods before getting out of the vehicle and trying to get away on foot but tripped and broke his arm in the process.

Officers found about $2,000 in his pocket upon capture and another $9,000 in the van.

Graham told investigators following his arrest that he had used some of the loot from the bank to buy the van and that he was high on crack cocaine and had been on a five-day methamphetamine binge.

Less than a year after his parole in January 2020, Graham stole a truck and was convicted of theft. While on probation seven months later, he robbed the two banks in Joplin and Louisburg. State charges remain pending against him in Kansas, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.