Accused Bank Robber Allowed to attend Prom, page 1

Jade Beers, Accused F-Bomb Bandit Accomplice, Allowed to Go to Prom

The members of the F-Bomb Bandit gang have gotten into a wee bit more trouble than your average, tp'ing and prank-playing high schoolers. But that doesn't mean they're all going to miss out on the most important night of their young lives. Jade Beers, 17, is one of two young girls police say is responsible for four bank robberies in Seattle, Renton and Kent. The group gained notoriety when the FBI nicknamed their point person, Shanell Kennebrew, the F-Bomb Bandit, for the "salty language" she used in the give-me-all-your-money notes handed to tellers. Beers and Kennebrew, police allege, were also victims. The impressionable pawns of an older man with a talent for manipulating young girls. Keith Sims, 40, has a long and cowardly criminal history. His main m.o. is to convince younger woman to commit crimes for him. If they don't agree to, say, turn tricks or pass bad checks, he beats them. In order to produce his next caper, Sims got his cousin to convince two girls he was dating -- that'd be Beers and Kennebrew -- to join in on some felonious hijinks. His logic was airtight: because you're teenagers, he told them, you're too young to get in trouble. An argument that would have sprung a leak had either of these nice young ladies ever watched an episode of "Law and Order." Beers and Kennebrew did the heavy lifting. Knocking over the banks while Sims and his cousin waited in a car outside. The plan worked well until Kennebrew's dad recognized his little girl in the grainy surveillance tape on the evening news. All four have been charged as adults with four counts of first-degree robbery. But there's some good news for Beers: a judge just granted her a temporary release from home custody this week so she could go to her senior prom.

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