A federal judge in Wyoming has ordered a man accused in a 2018 kidnapping and murder-for-hire scheme be sent to Vermont to answer the charge.
Jerry Banks of Fort Garland, Colorado, is charged in federal court in Rutland with kidnapping Gregory Davis, 49, from his home in Danville on Jan. 6, 2018.
The following day, Davis’ body was found in a snowbank off a road in Barnet, several miles from his house. Authorities said he’d been handcuffed and shot in the head and torso.
Banks, 34, has not been charged with killing Davis. But a criminal complaint filed in the kidnapping case — which describes authorities’ reasoning for the charge — alleges Banks killed Davis for money.
FBI Special Agent Patrick Hanna, who wrote the statement in support of the charge, said he believes Banks “was paid to kidnap and murder” Davis because police couldn’t find a personal connection between the two men.
The FBI agent said that in the fall of 2017, Banks was making less than $500 a week working for Colorado’s Costilla County Sheriff. Yet he put down $4,500 in cash for an SUV in October 2017, and placed at least $15,000 in cash on a debit card between November 2017 and the first half of 2018.
Hanna didn’t say who police believe paid Banks or masterminded the alleged plot.
The complaint charges Banks with kidnapping Davis from his house while posing as a U.S. Marshal who came to arrest him on racketeering charges. Davis left with him.
The U.S. Marshals Service later told investigators the agency did not arrest Davis nor did it have any active arrest warrants for him.
Federal prosecutors earlier said an exhaustive investigation by the FBI and Vermont State Police led to Banks’ arrest on Wednesday in Yellowstone National Park, where he was working. He has since been detained in that area.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont said investigators tracked Banks’ movements through two cellphones, including one that connected to cell towers near Danville when Davis was kidnapped and earlier near a Pennsylvania Walmart when Banks went to buy another phone.
Surveillance images from the store allegedly showed Banks buying the phone he used to call 911 minutes before kidnapping Davis and driving a Ford Explorer in which he was seen around the time of the kidnapping. Police said this was the same SUV he bought in October 2017.
Authorities said they also obtained records that showed that, days before he kidnapped Davis, Banks supposedly bought a marshal’s badge, marshals’ patches and other items used in the kidnapping.
If convicted of the kidnapping charge, he faces a penalty of up to life in prison.
On Tuesday afternoon, Banks appeared by video link before a federal magistrate in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He waived his scheduled detention and preliminary hearings, opting to hold them in the U.S. District Court in Vermont. He was represented by a public defender.
Chief Magistrate Judge Kelly Rankin ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to immediately transport Banks to Vermont, where he would be officially charged in court. It wasn’t clear as of Tuesday when he would appear in Vermont court.
