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War Stories

WAR Stories

Indiana
A man stood in line in front of the teller, holding his wallet and a $50 bill, evidently intending to ask for change. However, when he reached the teller window, he demanded all the large bills in the drawer, saying he had a weapon.

The teller handed him the money, and he fled - leaving his wallet on the counter.

Texas
A man convicted of bank robbery worked out a deal to pay $9,600 back to the bank in the hopes of making his sentence lighter.

For payment, he provided the court a check - a forged check.

He got 10 years.

Ohio
A man went into the bank, pulled a gun, announced a robbery, and pulled a Hefty-bag face mask over his head.

Only problem was, he'd forgotten to cut eye-holes in the mask.

Florida
A man successfully broke into a bank after hours and stole the bank's video camera - while it was recording.

Police had no trouble with identification or evidence, once they showed the judge the remote videotape of him stealing the camera.

Texas
The robber managed to break into the bank's basement window and get inside. Problem was he cut himself pretty badly on the glass trying to crawl in before he dropped almost six feet to the floor. He was bleeding heavily.

It was then he found out the basement door was locked, and he couldn't get to the vault or the money. And he couldn't climb back out.

However, there was a phone in the basement. So he dialed "911" for police help!

North Dakota
A man from Grand Forks went to Fargo to rob Community First Bank. He scribbled his ransom note on a piece of paper in his pocket and gave it to the teller. She gave him the money and watched him run out the door.

Police searched the area, but were unable to find him.

However, when they took a good look at the ransom note, they noticed it was written on the back of his personal bank account deposit slip!

Police arrested him at home.

(Location Unknown)
A man decided to rob a bank. He handed a note to the teller and told her to fill up a bag with the money. After receiving the loot, he decided that the bag was too bulky to carry out of the bank without attracting attention. So, he filled out a deposit slip, and had the teller deposit the money into his bank account.

Arkansas
In order to get into the bank located in a remote farm area, the robber decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through the plate-glass window, grab what he could, and run before police response.

So he picked up the cinder block way over his head and gave it a mighty heave at the window. The cinder block hit the Plexi-Glass (not plate glass), bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious.

All of the action was caught on the bank's videotape.

New York
As a female customer exited the branch, a man grabbed her purse and ran.

The branch person who observed the theft called 911 immediately and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher.

Within minutes, the police had apprehended the snatcher.

They put him in the cruiser and drove back to the bank.

The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes Officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."

Kansas
Police in Wichita arrested a 22-year-old man at an airport hotel after he tried to pass two (counterfeit) $16 bills.

Copyright © 2000 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 10, No. 8, 8/00

First published on 08/01/2000

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