More Turning to Bank Robbery for Quick Cash

More and more people see robbing a bank as a quick way to get cash, and these aren't your career criminals but people who appear to have fallen on tough times.

Saturday, May 30th 2009, 11:01 pm

By: News 9


By Jon Jordan, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The FBI is still searching for the bank robber who hit a branch bank inside a Homeland on the south side of the metro.

More and more people see robbing a bank as a quick way to get cash, and as the trend continues, Oklahoma will set a new record in 2009 for bank robberies.

According to banking officials whose job it is to track bank robberies, these aren't your career criminals but people who appear to have fallen on tough times.

"If this trend continues it will be a record year," FBI Agent Gary Johnson said. "Generally when you have a spike like we've had recently in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, it's caused by serial bank robbers and that does not appear to be the case this year."

"We're seeing some folks that everyone says it's just not anything they would have guessed they would have done," said Elaine Dodd, the Vice President of the Fraud Division for Oklahoma Bankers Association.

The robber could possibly be your neighbor, your friend or maybe your co-worker. Dodd said the spike is almost certainly attributed to the economy.

"I think it must be to some extent. We're seeing people robbing that would normally not be on our scope," Dodd said.

These 'amateur' robbers more often than not end up getting caught.

"Pictures are so good now, you can see the crease in somebody's shirt," Dodd said.

"We have great success in the long run. Our solution rate will exceed 80 something percent, probably 90 percent in the long run," Johnson said.

What's also interesting is how some of these robbers are being caught. Dodd said because these people often times don't have a lot of money, their own family members will turn them in hoping for a cash reward.

If you have information that leads to the capture of a bank robber, you could get up to $2,000 by calling the FBI at 290-7770.

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