PARIS – A judge set bail Wednesday for a 30-year-old woman accused of robbing a bank manager in Bethel last week.
Nancy Jean Plante, of 52 Main St. in Bethel, appeared in Oxford County Superior Court in a jail jumpsuit with one arm in a sling. Justice Andrew Horton agreed with a state recommendation to release Plante on either $5,000 cash bail or a Maine Pretrial Services agreement.
Plante had been released from the Oxford County Jail by Wednesday afternoon.
Plante is accused of robbing KeyBank assistant manager Marjorie Osgood on Sept. 20 at the bank’s branch on Main Street in Bethel. Plante was arrested Friday.
According to an affidavit by Detective John Hainey of the Maine State Police, Osgood was approached on the morning of the robbery by a white female who said the ATM had damaged her debit card. When Osgood and the woman entered the bank atrium to check on the card, the woman pulled out a small handgun and demanded $35,000 to $50,000.
The woman disguised herself with a scarf and ski hat during the robbery.
Osgood was unable to open the bank vault because it has a time lock and requires at least two people to open. Instead, she took $500 from her own account at the ATM and gave it to the woman, who left the scene toward High Street.
According to the affidavit, Plante matched the description of the robber given by Osgood. Plante was interviewed by Trooper Adam Fillebrown of the State Police after the robbery, and called Chief Alan Carr of the Bethel Police Department on Friday to see if police were looking for her.
Hainey stated that Plante admitted to the robbery during an interview at the Bethel police station, and showed police the clothing used in the robbery. She said she did not know where the firearm was.
On Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Richard Beauchesne asked that conditions of release include no use of possession of illegal drugs or dangerous weapons, random searches for both, and no return to the bank.
Defense lawyer Maurice Porter protested the condition of random searches for drugs, saying there was no indication that drugs or alcohol were involved in the incident.
Porter said Plante suffers from several medical conditions, and was recently injured at the jail during a seizure. He said the jail did not have the necessary medication for Plante.
Horton agreed with Beauchesne’s recommendation, but ordered that searches for drugs only take place on articulable suspicion. He also ordered that Plante have no contact with Osgood.
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