Man who held hostages at a St. Cloud bank sentenced to 6.5 years in federal prison

The Waite Park man who pleaded guilty in federal court to holding bank employees hostage during a robbery at a St. Cloud bank in 2021 was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison on Thursday.

Ray Reco McNeary, 39, was arrested May 6, 2021, following a nearly nine-hour standoff at a Wells Fargo Bank on the west side of St. Cloud. He was charged with seven felony counts in Stearns County District Court and one count of armed bank robbery in U.S. District Court.

According to court documents, McNeary went to the bank alleging fraud on his account and became enraged when the bank manager was unable to locate his account. He then demanded that $60,000 from the vault be placed in a bag, and he threatened the five bank employees he was holding hostage, documents state.

McNeary also repeatedly held a pair of scissors against the bank manager’s back and neck, and said he wanted to be shot by police so he would be a martyr and his family would receive money, documents state.

The FBI communicated with McNeary using phone calls, written messages and loudspeakers. The hostages left the bank throughout the afternoon and evening to the cheers of a crowd of onlookers that gathered in the Costco parking lot across the street from the bank.

In March 2022, McNeary was found incompetent to stand trial. He was found competent to proceed in June 2023 and pleaded guilty in federal court in April.

In a memo to the court, McNeary’s attorney, Paul Engh, asked for a 60-month sentence and said at the time of the robbery, McNeary was “in the throes of a chronic mental illness.”

“With the help of medication, he is now ready to accept his responsibility for the offense and punishment,” Engh wrote.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger asked the court to impose a 90-month sentence, noting the nature of the offense was “striking in its brazen, terrifying effect on several bank employees just trying to do their job and make a living” — many of whom still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

A memo by Luger states McNeary could have easily been killed during the robbery due to his frenzied behavior but “sensing that he may be suffering from some mental illness or psychotic break, snipers restrained themselves. But the situation was extremely volatile and dangerous.”

Judge Jeffrey Bryan sentenced McNeary to 78 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $8,210 in restitution for expenses incurred by a victim who sought therapy and counseling after the robbery.

Documents state McNeary’s case in Stearns County will be dismissed following Thursday’s sentencing in federal court.