U.S. Attorney William Hochul calls the arrest of Richard Leon Wilbern a “very important day” made possible by perseverance and public support.
Hochul and FBI Special Agent in Charge Adam Cohen say Wilbern was arrested this week for the 2003 Xerox Federal Credit Union robbery in Webster, in which $10,000 was stolen and two people were shot. Raymond Batzel was killed, Joseph Doud survived.
Hochul and Cohen say Wilbern became a person of interest in the 13-year-old robbery and murder case after the FBI held a press conference in March. They released enhanced surveillance photos of the suspect, and it worked. The photos jogged the memory of a tipster. He came forward and said they looked like Wilbern, a man he used to work with at Xerox.
Cohen says that tipster will likely collect the $50,000 reward put up by the FBI for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Checking into Wilbern, the FBI found he had filed a race discrimination suit against Xerox in 2000, which was dismissed six months before the robbery. Wilbern told the tipster at that time that “he would get his money.” Wilbern had also pleaded guilty to a bank holdup in Irondequoit in 1980 and served a year in jail. He had worked for Xerox from 1997 until his termination in 2001.
Investigators spent 190 days running down the new information and turning it into a case against Wilbern. That investigation continues and Hochul says more charges may be filed.
Authorities say the case has moved forward on three things: the tip, the advances in science and technology that allowed DNA evidence to to be processed, plus dedicated agents, analysts and investigators who wove together all the information that led to the arrest.
Wilbern will be back in federal court on October 12 for a detention hearing. Hochul says at that time, additional evidence will be introduced to deny bail based on risk of flight and danger to the community. The case will be handled in federal court, which means the death penalty could potentially be involved if ordered by the U.S. Attorney General.