ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Waite Park man has pleaded guilty to robbing a St. Cloud bank in May of 2021.
On May 6, 2021, Ray McNeary, 38, went to a Wells Fargo Bank in St. Cloud, claiming that there was fraud on his bank account. After the bank manager was unable to locate any accounts belonging to McNeary, he 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 alarm, notifying law enforcement of a problem at the bank.
Upon arrival, St. Cloud police officers learned that five employees of the bank were being held hostage by McNeary. McNeary held a pair of scissors against the bank manager’s neck and back multiple times. FBI hostage negotiators spoke with McNeary repeatedly during what turned out to be an eight-hour standoff.