Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 12, 1992 TAG: 9204030530
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Laurence Hammack staff writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
N.C. WOMAN GUILTY IN COUNTY BANK ROBBERY
After robbing a Roanoke County bank, Mary Danielle Murphy, 53, returned to her North Carolina home and used some of the $13,200 to catch up on her rent and to buy a set of patio furniture.At a hearing Tuesday in U.S. District court, Murphy pleaded guilty to robbing the Electric Road branch of the Southwest Virginia Savings Bank last Aug. 2.
Although testimony from FBI Agent Mark Whitworth explained what Murphy did with some of the stolen money, it remained unclear why a college-educated, professional woman would resort to robbing a bank.
Her attorney, Jeff Rudd, called it a "situation of desperation."
At the time, Murphy was apparently distraught over her husband's failing health and her own financial condition.
"She's a well-educated person, but she was confronted with a very difficult financial and emotional situation," Rudd said.
Under an agreement reached with the government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rusty Fitzgerald agreed to drop a charge that Murphy used a gun in the robbery in exchange for her guilty plea to the robbery charge.
Murphy wil face a maximum punishment of 25 years in prison when she is sentenced later.
Whitworth testified that shortly after the robbery, federal authorities learned that Murphy paid a $100 debt to her attorney and $800 in back rent to her landlord in Sparta, N.C. Authorities also found that she paid off some credit card debts and made a large number of cash purchases of items such as gardening tools, a grill and patio furniture.
About $5,000 of the money taken in the robbery remains unaccounted for, Whitworth said.
Murphy told Judge Jackson Kiser Tuesday that she holds a degree in business administration from the University of Kentucky and last worked as assistant comptroller of a large trucking company.
Authorities have said that she first visited Southwest Virginia Savings Bank to ask questions about opening an account, wearing sunglasses the entire time. When she returned later, Murphy told the manager that she had a gun in her purse and ordered him to fill a briefcase with $13,200 in $5, $10 and $20 bills.
Murphy did not testify Tuesday, but her motives may be explained in more detail at a sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled. "There's a human side to her that differentiates her from the typical bank robber,'" Rudd said.