Economy brings out the criminal in some
Bank robberies have taken on some unusual forms lately.
Failing businesses, depleted stock portfolios and family debt have driven some unusual suspects to be accused of robbery lately.
It seems the stress of dealing with a broken economy has caused a few people to snap — people who others describe as regular, upstanding citizens. When personal loans aren’t an option anymore, it seems some people have decided they will find other ways to get money out of banks.
The case of the Church Deacon
Last month, a man held up a South Carolina bank with a gun. Several people inside the bank were held hostage. Police say the man with the gun, who conducted a 90-minute standoff, was Bruce Windsor. The 43-year-old man was a local church deacon. Not only were people who knew him seemingly baffled by the situation, so was he.
“This doesn’t even register. I’m just ill,” Windsor told a judge in a court appearance. “I’ve never stolen anything in my life.”
Police say Windsor tried to steal cash in order to save his failing real estate company. The father of four had no criminal history.
A modern-day Robin Hood?
In September, a father of two teen daughters “lost everything” in the stock market. Keith Giammanco then allegedly went on a robbing spree. Police say he robbed a total of 12 banks.
His motivation for the crime appeared to be his daughters. He wanted to keep them in private school and continue to buy them things. One daughter says her father was “her Robin Hood.” The way she sees it, he took from the “greedy” banks to make his family’s life better.
I guess no one saw it coming
Perhaps Robin Hood would identify more with Barbara Joly, 68. Joly has been dubbed the “Ohio granny robber,” and last month she was sentenced to six years in prison for robbing three banks.
Joly’s husband says she stole the money to help her son, who had fallen deeply into debt and turned to his mother for help.
Clearly there were character flaws not stated in the article. Greed. There is never an excuse for dishonest gain. The deacon just gave all ‘Christians’ a bad name. The two girls are spoiled, and the elderly mother should have let her son figure it out for himself. No Excuses.