Almost one year ago, a major crime took place in Greene County and it recently came to a closure.

Zachary Wailes of Fort Dodge and Tyler Mattingly of Carroll were involved in a bank robbery on February 25, 2021, when Wailes stole over $20,000 from Peoples Bank in Scranton. After the two suspects were arrested, Wailes was federally indicted on federal bank robbery and was sentenced to eight years and four months in federal prison. Mattingly was prosecuted in Greene County District Court on a Class C Felony for first degree theft-aiding and abetting, and was sentenced to ten years in state prison. Mattingly made a false report of a traffic accident on the eastern side of the county to take law enforcement away from Scranton.

Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn explains the differences between the two prison sentences.

“Mr. Mattingly’s prison sentence is longer than Mr. Wailes on paper. The reason I made that qualification is because federal prisons don’t have parole whereas state prisons do. So Mr. Mattingly will be eligible for parole long before he completes ten years in prison and will likely be out before Mr. Wailes.”  

Laehn notes despite the different sentences and the federal government cherry-picking Wailes case, he was still happy with both outcomes.

“It was a great success for law enforcement, for my office. Hopefully it’ll bring a measure of closure to the victims of the crime, those who were present at the bank at the time of the robbery, and will deter others who would consider committing this type of crime in the future.” 

Laehn adds this case was one of the more high profile cases in his first four year term as Greene County Attorney.