“Thanks and sorry” – 78-year-old robs a bank in the US for the third time

An unusual case for the police in Pleasant Hill, a small town in the American Midwest: According to media reports, a 78-year-old woman robbed a bank there. She was caught shortly afterward, as The Kansas City Star newspaper reported this weekend. It turned out that the suspect had been convicted of bank robbery at least twice, according to court records.

As the newspaper reports, the woman entered the bank in the 9,000-resident city southeast of Kansas City in the US state of Missouri last Wednesday. She was wearing plastic gloves, an N95 respirator and black sunglasses. She handed the cashier a note that read:

According to the report, the woman drove off in an SUV with a disability ID on it. When police stopped her in a parking lot shortly afterwards, she smelled strongly of alcohol. There were many small bills scattered on the floor of the car.

According to the newspaper, the woman had already been convicted of a bank robbery in California in 1977. On January 23, 2020, her son called the police and said his mother had gone completely mad and wanted to rob a bank. At Lee’s Summit, also Missouri, she allegedly extorted $3,000 and was caught soon after. For this she received a suspended sentence, the suspended sentence expired in November 2021.

After Pleasant Hill’s arrest, police chief Tommy Wright said he had never arrested a bank robbery suspect that age in his 30 years on the job. «As the officers (the car) approached, they were a bit confused at first… an old woman got out. We weren’t sure at first if we had the right person.”, Wright told the Kansas City Star. (saw/sda/dpa)