South St. Paul Man Sentenced for Robbing Credit Union

June 29, 2010 - Today in federal court in Minneapolis a 48-year-old South St. Paul man was sentenced for robbing the Wakota Federal Credit Union on October 30, 2009. United States District Court Judge David S. Doty sentenced Steven Lee Olson to 60 months in prison on one count of credit union robbery. He was indicted on December 2, 2009, and pleaded guilty on March 9, 2010.

In his plea agreement, Olson admitted stealing $1,514 from the credit union, which is located at 1151 Southview Boulevard. According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit, the credit union was robbed at 4:58 p.m. on October 30, 2009. At that time, the robber, later identified as Olson, walked up to a teller, pointed what she thought was a gun at her, and demanded “banded” money. The teller was too scared to respond, so the robber went to a second teller. After obtaining cash from that teller, he left the premises.

The robber was wearing a red jacket, and a red bandana covered a portion of his face. A bystander, who saw him get into a Dodge Intrepid, reported his location to police. The police, in turn, responded. However, upon their arrival on the scene, the robber fled. Authorities pursued him for about two miles before he jumped from his vehicle and attempted to outrun them. Following a short chase, they apprehended the man. During a subsequent search of his vehicle, officers found the red-hooded jacket, a red bandana, a toy revolver, loose bills, and a bill wrapper from the First State Bank of Rosemount, which was robbed on October 21, 2009.

Later Olson admitted that he had committed five other bank robberies as well as one attempted bank robbery. Those robberies included one at the MidCountry Bank in Inver Grove Heights on September 25, 2009; the Central Bank in South St. Paul on September 30, 2009; a Wells Fargo Bank in Minneapolis on October 6, 2009; the First State Bank of Rosemount on October 21, 2009; the Associated Bank in Hudson, Wisconsin, on October 9, 2009; and the attempted robbery of the Cherokee State Bank in St. Paul on October 20, 2009.

This case was the result of an investigation by the South St. Paul Police Department and the FBI, with assistance from the Inver Grove Heights and West St. Paul police departments. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan P. Petterson.