Friday, January 22, 2010

If you read the confessions of the Greeley couple dubbed the “Bonnie and Clyde” robbers, it could be a chapter of “We'll be home for Christmas.”

In court affidavits obtained Thursday, the couple — Joseph Nieto and Christine Drummond — confessed to two robberies in Greeley in December, saying they were “unable to find jobs and needed money to get back to California ... to be with their children by Christmas.”

One of the robberies, at Guaranty Bank, 930 11th Ave., occurred on the morning of Christmas Eve, and police say the couple left later that day to drive to California.

They also have been charged in a December robbery at the Premier Cash Advance store, 3820 W. 10th St.

Robbers got away with about $14,500 from Guaranty Bank and $2,000 from Premier Cash Advance, according to court records.

Another man, Michael Gabriel Nieto, 28, of Greeley was arrested this week and charged with robbery. Court records state he is Joseph Nieto's brother and charge that he was the driver of the getaway car in the two robberies. Although Michael Nieto told police he didn't know the couple were robbing the bank and cash store, and he just waited in the car for them, they both said they gave him some of the money taken in the robberies.

Court records also say employees at the check-cashing store recognized Drummond because she'd applied for a job at the store two months before the robbery. Police were given Drummond's job application, which also gave her California address.

Using the cell phone number on the job application, Greeley detectives were able to trace Drummond's telephone calls, beginning at three minutes after the bank robbery on Christmas Eve. They then followed the calls made on the phone from Greeley, across the mountains and eventually into Visalia, Calif., where the couple was later arrested.

California law officers arrested the couple, then searched their home, where they found two handguns, clothing that matched the robbers on bank video tapes, and bank bags from Guaranty Bank.

The couple will likely be extradited within the next month from California back to Greeley for trial in the robbery cases.

Michael Nieto remains in the Weld County Jail on a $50,000 bond.