On February 15, 1979, Malone and another man, Andrew R. Armstong, robbed Missouri Court of Appeals judge George F. Gunn Jr. near his home in Brentwood. Armstrong pointed a loaded pistol at Gunn, and the pair stole only $4 in the robbery. Armstrong was sentenced to twenty years after fleeing the state in a stolen car. Malone was sentenced to seven years as he was considered the accomplice in the crime. Malone began his sentence on January 24, 1980, at the Missouri Intermediate Reformatory at the Algoa Correctional Center in Jefferson City.
