The 22-year-old man charged this summer regarding his involvement with a 2015 Mitchell bank robbery pleaded guilty on Tuesday in felony court proceedings.
Jose Campos, of South Sioux City, Nebraska, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree robbery as part of a plea agreement. The first-degree robbery charge is a Class 2 felony, with a potential maximum penalty of up to 25 years in prison and $50,000 in fines.
Court documents say Campos on Nov. 14, 2015, perpetrated a robbery at First Dakota National Bank on North Main Street and “accomplished by means of force or fear against” a bank employee by use of a knife. A grand jury indicted him on the charges in August.
Campos had faced two counts of robbery charges, two counts for kidnapping and an attempted kidnapping charge. A plea agreement with the Davison County State’s Attorney’s office dropped the other charges and left the first-degree robbery charge as Campos’ remaining offense.
Authorities in 2015 said the man entered the bank and sat inside for more than 45 minutes until the other customers left. The suspected robber then brandished a knife and demanded an undisclosed amount of money from bank tellers.
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He then forced a female teller to walk out the front doors with him before getting into a silver vehicle — believed to be a 2009-11 Honda Civic with Nebraska license plates — parked on Green Drive, approximately half a block southeast of the bank.
The man, estimated to be 5-foot-3-inches tall and weighing approximately 170 pounds, left several items behind, including a hat, a knife scabbard, a cell phone case, two shoes and a sock.
On Tuesday, Davison County State’s Attorney Jim Miskimins described Campos’ actions as being in a "threatening, violent manner” with the knife.
Campos will be sentenced on Jan. 19, 2021. Judge Chris Giles said he will make a decision on whether to consider live testimony from the victim at the time of sentencing, something that is more rare for him on the bench. Typically, he said, he prefers written letters testifying to the impact of the crime.
