Russell Dunn, 61, of Festus has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempting to rob a Crystal City insurance office. He held one of the office’s employees at gunpoint while demanding $4,000, and when police officers responded to the scene, Dunn said he had a bomb, authorities reported.
After Dunn pleaded guilty, Jefferson County Div. 5 Circuit Judge Victor J. Melenbrink sentenced Dunn on Feb. 1 to 12 years for first-degree robbery and four years for making a terrorist threat. The sentences will be served concurrently, or at the same time, court records said.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Jacob T. Costello handled the case.
At about 2:45 p.m. June 17, 2020, Dunn entered Shelter Insurance, 1000 N. Truman Blvd., and pointed a .22-caliber pistol at the employee, a 29-year-old woman. She gave him $20, but he then demanded $4,000 from her, the probable-cause statement in the case said.
Crystal City Police were called to the office while the robbery was in progress after the woman secretly alerted her husband that she was being held at gunpoint. About a dozen officers responded and surrounded the building, where the man was holed up inside, Crystal City Police Chief Chad Helms said following the robbery.
Dunn ran to the back of the business and told police he had a bomb in his backpack that he would detonate if the officers did not back away from the building, the report said.
Helms said officers eventually entered the business and arrested Dunn. No bomb was found, but officers found a .22-caliber handgun near Dunn.
Festus Police and Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers also responded to the business, Helms said.
Dunn currently is in the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.