Bank Teller Gets One-Year Sentence In Robbery

A former Spokane bank teller will serve 12 months in prison for planning a bank robbery that ended with his roommate committing suicide.

Anthony B. Maze, 21, was sentenced to the maximum term for bank embezzlement on Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle.

Maze was the mastermind behind the Dec. 6, 1995, holdup at the drive-up window at First Interstate, 2910 E. 30th.

The former teller pleaded guilty on Feb. 9.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Johnson said Maze had planned the holdup since October, when he was hired by the bank and put through security training.

He discussed robbing three branches, but settled on the one where he worked, Johnson said.

He admitted stealing $2,000 from his teller drawer the day before the holdup. He then convinced his roommate, John Wayne Carver, to go through with the robbery the next day to cover up the embezzlement.

The two lived at 32 E. Rockwell, where FBI agents learned Carver had slept on a handmade wooden coffin. Agents spotted nooses, knives and a clothed skeleton in the home.

As part of a plea bargain, a second charge of bank theft against Maze was dismissed.

Maze was working as the drive-up teller when Carver, 19, staged the armed robbery.

The bank teller described the robber’s truck, but didn’t tell police the robber was his roommate.

Police quickly spotted the getaway truck and stopped it a short distance from the South Hill bank.

As officers approached, Carver put the handgun to his head and fatally shot himself. Maze was arrested a short time after the robbery.

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