Over the previous twenty years, cases of financial institution crime have dropped from over 7,000 recorded offenses in 2003 to fewer than 2,000 in 2021, based on FBI knowledge.
Improved surveillance and safety could possibly be contributed to the decline, prompting offenders to pursue cybercrime as a substitute of an in-person heist. Nevertheless, some nonetheless favor the old style route.
Final week, Bonnie Gooch, 78, was arrested in Nice Hill, Missouri for finishing up a financial institution heist. The just about octogenarian allegedly handed a word to a teller demanding “13,000 small payments” and in addition wrote “sorry I did not imply to scare you,” The Kansas Metropolis Star reported.
It is Gooch’s third arrest for financial institution theft up to now. Her first conviction was in 1977 for robbing a California financial institution, and he or she confronted a second conviction in 2020 for robbing a financial institution in a Kansas Metropolis suburb.
Gooch was caught by police later that very same day on the Nice Hill Animal Clinic (lower than two miles away from the incident). She allegedly smelled of alcohol and had a considerable amount of money scattered throughout her automotive’s floorboard.
Police informed The Kansas Metropolis Star that Gooch had no “recognized” illnesses, however they’re working to discern whether or not any underlying well being components could have contributed to the incident, including that “it is simply unhappy.”
“When officers first approached her, they have been type of confused … It is slightly outdated girl who steps out,” Nice Hill Police Chief Tommy Wright informed the outlet. “We weren’t positive initially that we had the best particular person.”
Gooch stays in Cass County Jail with a bond set at $25,000. There is no such thing as a lawyer is listed based on on-line court docket paperwork, the AP reported.
Though Gooch’s transfer to rob a financial institution with a word handed to the teller could seem old style, about 77% of financial institution crimes occurred instantly on the counter in 2021, based on knowledge from the FBI.