FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON
April 26, 2007

CONTACT: Jean McNeil
Public Information Officer
(208) 334-1211

SAGLE MAN CONVICTED OF BANK ROBBERY
Case Hinged on DNA Evidence

A federal jury in Coeur d’Alene convicted 37-year-old Steven Lee Howard of robbing the Horizon Credit Union in Coeur d’Alene on December 11, 2003, U.S. Attorney Tom Moss announced. Howard used a fake bomb to frighten a teller into giving him money, Moss said.

According to testimony at trial, the robber wore a distinctive set of clothes and had bandages on his face. He abandoned the costume in a dumpster in the parking lot of the Silver Lake Mall, where Coeur d’Alene police officers recovered it.

After identifying Howard as a possible suspect because he drove the same kind of car used by the robber, FBI agents compared Howard’s DNA to DNA found on a baseball cap and bandages and got a match.

The jury convicted Howard earlier this month. Sentencing was set for June 25 at 3 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge at the federal courthouse in Coeur d’Alene.