Minneapolis, Minnesota — A Sioux City woman who was doing time for a Le Mars bank robbery, but escaped custody, has been found in Minneapolis.
Court records indicate Karen Rose Merrick, who was 36 years old in January of 2020 when she was sentenced for her role in the December 12th, 2018 bank robbery in Le Mars, had been driving the getaway car, which was a U-Haul truck. Merrick had originally been charged with bank robbery of the Iowa State Bank in Le Mars but pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact in a plea deal with prosecutors.
Merrick admitted to driving the U-Haul truck Phillip White used to flee after robbing the bank at knife-point. The duo were captured after a brief chase, and authorities say more than $16,000 taken in the robbery was recovered at that time.
About a year after Merrick was sentenced and started serving her time behind bars, she was allowed to stay at a residential re-entry center in Sioux City. A little over half a year later, in July of 2021, she left for work one day and never returned to the center.
White was sentenced in November 2019 to 12 years in federal prison.
