Ex-sailor on trial for robbery

ST. PAUL, Minn. — An ex-sailor credited with saving hundreds of his shipmates from an explosion is about to stand trial on charges he robbed a credit union, then escaped by donning scuba gear and hiding for hours in the Mississippi River.

Mark Samples, who fled with his son for more than a year while awaiting trial, has blamed his actions in 2001 on post-traumatic stress disorder exacerbated by the extreme side effects of medications.

Jury selection begins Monday in his trial on federal bank robbery charges.

Military officials say Samples, then 24, saved more than 200 shipmates by preventing an explosion on the USS Stark after the vessel was accidentally hit by two Iraqi missiles while in the Persian Gulf in 1987. He spent 13 hours in a darkened magazine, spraying water on 36 missiles as a 2,000-degree fire raged only a bulkhead away.

For his efforts, Samples was awarded the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Medal of Heroism, the highest peacetime honor; and the Vanguard Award, which recognizes noncommissioned officers’ heroism.

According to a memo from his defense, Samples was traumatized by the incident but sought no counseling because he feared it would jeopardize his military advancement.

In 2001, he was "actively suicidal," and tried to devise a plan that would allow his wife and son to collect on his life insurance policy. He opted to rob a bank, the court document stated.

On May 3, 2001, according to police, Samples robbed a southern Minnesota credit union at gunpoint. Dressed in diver’s clothing, he fled on a mountain bike with about $70,000. He spent eight hours in the Mississippi River before heading to the Wisconsin residence he shared with his wife and son, police said.

The FBI tracked a handgun dropped during the robbery to Samples, who fled with his 2-year-old son while awaiting trial in 2002.

The two were found 15 months later in a small Ohio town near the West Virginia border.