Morgan Phelps looks like a scruffy businessman and seems to be just one of several unlucky customers when Phillip Stubbins turns a bank robbery at the Santa Barbara National Savings Bank into a hostage situation, but Shawn later discovers that he's actually a criminal who had struck a deal with bank manager Nathaniel Gresling for a stash of diamonds stored at the bank. Knowing they would need a smokescreen to obfuscate this illegal transaction, Gresling and Phelps manipulated Stubbins into robbing the bank by abducting his wife Joanna. The hostage situation that ensued when one of the customers saw Stubbins' gun wasn't part of the plan, however, and crucially prevented Phelps from leaving the bank. He tries to escape through the air ducts once the hostage situation is resolved, but Shawn notices this and helps Lassiter catch him.
