Nebraska Man Crawls Through Ceiling to Rob Credit Union’s Vault

Mike Akeen Obed might have gotten away with robbing Siouxland Federal Credit Union in the middle of one night last June had it not been for a security guard who heard a noise coming from the ceiling.

U.S. District Court Judge John M. Gerrard sentenced the 22-year-old Sioux City, Neb., man last week to 18 months in federal prison for robbing a satellite branch of the $253 million SFCU. After serving his prison sentence, Obed will be on three years of supervised release, court documents showed. He pleaded guilty to federal credit union robbery in December.

During the early morning hours of June 11, 2021, Obed climbed down from the ceiling of the credit union’s vault room. And during the heist he decided to take a break to make a phone call and eat a snack before police captured him hiding in the ceiling with a red bag stuffed with more than $200,000.

FBI investigators reported in court documents that at about 1 a.m. deputies of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to an alarm at the SFCU branch, located inside a Tyson Food plant in Dakota City, Neb. After police arrived to investigate, they didn’t see anyone inside the branch and its doors were locked and secured. At that time, they didn’t have access to enter the branch to investigate further.

At about 3 a.m., an alarm came on again from the branch. This time, police spoke with the Tyson Food security guard who confirmed the doors remained locked and secured. But at 4:30 a.m., the alarm was activated again. After police arrived, the security guard said he detected a noise coming from the ceiling.

FBI investigators said police began looking for other possible entry points into the branch and found a locked bathroom door outside of the branch. Police, who later learned Obed placed an out-of-service sign on the door, forced it open and found a screwdriver wedged in the door to keep it secure.

Inside this restroom, police saw a piece of the ceiling had been removed. They also found a pair of sandals and a blue medical mask on the floor.

Around this time, SFCU representatives arrived to let the police inside the branch. They found the virtual teller machine (ITM) had been damaged, and that a piece of the ceiling had been removed in the vault and a ladder set up inside the vault, according to the FBI investigation.

After hearing a sound coming from the ceiling, police removed pieces of it and caught Obed and a red bag filled with $218,000.

A credit union employee told police that surveillance footage of the credit union’s vault showed a male in the vault room. The video also showed the individual attempting to access the vault, making a phone call and having a snack. Sometime after the call and his snack, he covered the camera to obscure its view, according to court documents.

Obed apparently gained access to the plant because he was a former Tyson Food employee and still had his identification card after he was fired.

Prosecutors did not say who Obed called or why he made the call.

SFCU President/CEO Joel A. Steenhoven did not respond to CU Times‘ request for comment.