Waite Park Man Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Armed Bank Robbery

ST PAUL, Minn. - A Waite Park man has been sentenced to 78 months in prison, five years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $8,210 in restitution for the 2021 robbery of a St. Cloud bank, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

According to court documents, on May 6, 2021, Ray Reco McNeary, 39, entered a Wells Fargo Bank in St. Cloud and alleged that there was fraud on his bank account. After the bank manager was unable to locate any accounts belonging to McNeary, McNeary became enraged and demanded that $60,000 in cash be taken from the vault and placed in a bank bag. The bank manager activated the silent panic alarm, notifying law enforcement of a problem at the bank.

According to court documents, upon arrival, St. Cloud police officers learned that five employees of the bank were being held hostage by McNeary. Multiple times throughout the incident, McNeary held a pair of scissors against the bank manager's neck and back. FBI hostage negotiators spoke with McNeary repeatedly during what turned out to be an eight-hour standoff. During the course of negotiations, four of the employees were allowed to leave the bank. The standoff ended at approximately 10:24 p.m. when the bank manager fled the bank and law enforcement moved in to arrest McNeary.

On March 29, 2024, McNeary pleaded guilty to one count of armed bank robbery. He was sentenced today in U.S. District Court before Judge Jeffrey M. Bryan.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the St. Cloud Police Department and the FBI.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David P. Steinkamp prosecuted the case.