An elderly woman from Ohio resorted to holding up a bank armed with a pistol after losing her life savings to scammers.
Elderly woman sticks up bank
According to police in Fairfield Township, Ann Mayers, 74, walked into an AurGroup Credit Union on April 19, holding a gun and demanding that bank tellers hand over the cash.
Surveillance video provided by local law enforcement shows Mayers entering the financial institution while wearing a face mask and carrying a blue tote.
After the alleged heist, the old lady is said to have made a getaway in a silver 2014 Hyundai Elantra, which she had the foresight to remove the plates from.
When she was pulled over by police, who found the handgun, Mayers confessed to the bank robbery.
Family members told authorities that Mayers had been deceived online by a scammer, and sent all of her money to “unidentified individual.”
“In that aspect, some may see her as a ‘victim.’ Unfortunately, Ann chose to victimize several other people in the bank by robbing it with a firearm as a remedy for her situation,” Sgt. Brandon McCroskey told USA TODAY.
Elderly woman planned out bank robbery
The robbery appeared to be planned in advance, highlighted by Mayers’ attempting to camouflage her vehicle by removing the license plate and attempting to stripping off an identifying bumper sticker.
McCroskey also said that the senior citizen wasn’t exactly mum about her intentions to knock over the bank.
“She also reportedly spoke to family members about robbing banks in the days leading up to the robbery, but the family did not take her comments seriously,” he noted.
Charges against Mayers include aggravated robbery with a firearm and tampering with evidence. She had no previous criminal background prior to the bank theft.
The exact sum of money Mayers is accused of stealing remains undisclosed. Currently, Mayers is detained at Butler County Jail.
In another credit union heist, a Memphis man has been accused of lifting a whopping $72,000 from a credit union to get his hands on his “dream car.”
According to WREG, Joseph Herring Jr., finds himself in hot water over allegedly swiping cash valued from $60,000 to a hefty $250,000 from the coffers of City of Memphis Employees Credit Union.
In August, a vigilant credit union manager smelled something fishy—a vault drawer loaded with cash was nowhere to be found—and reported the theft to police.
Turns out, Herring wasn’t just any employee; he was the IT guy, who reportedly took quite a few unexpected detours to the credit union during the theft week.
Peeking through the security tapes gave investigators a lead—Herring was allegedly caught on camera making the security footage from the critical period disappear.
Digging deeper, the Memphis Police Department (MPD) stumbled upon Herring’s bank records, and they were teeming with a series of cash deposits at ATMs and the cash purchase of a 2024 Volvo S60, Herring’s labelled “dream car”.
Herring claimed that he bagged the car using cash he won at the Southland Casino—a cool $26,000.
According to the casino, his windfall was only pocketed after the credit union cried reported the theft.
With the car’s sticker price at $45,000, Herring’s math was off since his casino take fell $19,000 short of the car’s value.
He was arrested and slapped with a $42,000 bond, which his attorney said his family posted.
