ROCHESTER, N.Y.–Seventeen years after murdering a member inside a credit union branch, Richard Leon Wilbern has been sentenced to life in prison.
As CUToday.info has reported extensively, including here, the murder of CU member Raymond Batzel in 2003 inside what was then Xerox FCU had been a long-time cold case before Wilbern was identified as a suspect.
According to prosecutors, Wilbern was a "desperate and disgruntled man” in 2003 who was struggling financially after being fired from Xerox Corp. for constant absenteeism. It was in that state of desperation, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Gregory, Wilbern walked into Xerox FCU on the Webster, N.Y., Xerox campus wearing an FBI jacket and a bulletproof vest, robbed it and fatally shot Batzel. According to police, Wilbern identified himself as an FBI agent as part of a ruse to convince the CU he was there for a security assessment.
In November 2019, Wilbern was found guilty of shooting CU member Raymond Batzel, 51, after he refused the robber's demand that he lie down on the floor with other members and CU employees. Wilbern also shot and wounded one other person during the robbery. That person survived.
Victim’s Mother on Hand
At his sentencing, Rowena Bennett, 93, the mother of Batzel, was on hand in court, saying Wilbern "made a bad choice when he walked into that bank.” Batzel was 51 at the time he was killed and was in the credit union to make a payment on his vehicle.
U.S. District Judge Charles Siragusa sentenced Wilbern, 60, to life in prison — a sentence mandated by federal law, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.
The publication quoted Siragusa as saying to Wilbern, "Will you die in prison? Yes, you will die in prison. And you know what — yes, you should."