One of the co-conspirators who was serving time for his role in the 2003 pizza collar bomb heist that claimed the life of Brian Wells has died.

Kenneth Barnes, 65, passed away Thursday at the Federal Medical Center at Butner, North Carolina.

Barnes, who was a drug dealer, pleaded guilty in 2008 to federal charges of conspiracy to commit bank robbery and using and carrying a destructive device.

He was sentenced to serve 45 years behind bars, but a judge in 2011 cut the sentence in half, reducing it to 22-and-a-half years.

Barnes was charged after Brian Wells robbed the PNC Bank at 7200 Peach St. on Aug. 28, 2003.

Investigators said evidence showed the bank robbery was not committed by Wells alone. Instead, they said it was planned in advance by a group of co-conspirators, which included Barnes, William Rothstein and Marjorie Diehl Armstrong.

The conspirators created a series of notes that provided instructions on how to complete the bank robbery and have the collar bomb that was strapped around his neck disarmed and removed.