Believe it or not, bank robberies still happen. The bank robber in this true crime didn’t seem to have a plan.
In a small mid-west town, a 25-year-old man drove a stolen pickup to a bank. He entered the bank barefooted and wearing a bandana across his face, packing a stolen semi-automatic handgun, and demanded money from the teller. He jumped over the partition between himself and the teller, opened the drawer, and found no money. Apparently surprised by the empty drawer and fearful of being caught, he fled.
Soon after, he led law enforcement on a high-speed chase. When he came across a roadblock, he shot through the windshield of the stolen truck at the officers. He didn’t hit any officers, and he continued his escape. He eventually got off the highway, hit a parked vehicle, and crashed into a tree. What most criminals do he took off running (barefooted), law enforcement officers apprehended him, but not without a struggle. During the scuffle, the bank robber got his hand on the officer’s AR-15 and fired a shot.
He admitted he was a drug addict and needed drug money. The court ordered a psychiatric evaluation and determined he may suffer from a mental disorder that significantly impaired his ability to understand the nature and consequences of the court proceedings. The Attorney General committed him to a federal treatment center.
On his Facebook info page, he’d written,
“Getting into Trouble. Fighting the Forces of Evil. Saving the World. Any other Thankless Tasks.”
Almost five years after the failed bank robbery, in a bench trial, a judge found him guilty of one count bank robbery, one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, two counts of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, and one count of being a drug user in possession of firearms. The judge sentenced him to 19 years in federal prison. #bankrobbery #failedbankrobbery
Source: US District Court, US Department of Justice, The Reporter