2 – Albert Bailey Gives the Bank a ‘Heads Up.’
If you work in a bank that gets robbed, it is an extremely traumatic experience; not least because you didn’t see it coming. One minute you are serving a customer, the next you have a shotgun waved in your face. If only all bank robbers were as considerate as Albert Bailey and his junior accomplice.
One of the hardest things about robbing a bank is quickly getting in and out before the police arrive. If you steal a large sum of money, it takes time to count it and increases your risk of capture. Bailey knew this which is why he decided to ring the People’s Bank in Fairfield, Connecticut on March 23, 2010, to let them know he was coming. Yes, you read that right; Bailey rang the bank to tell them he was about to rob the place. In his tiny mind, Bailey figured the phone call gave the bank tellers enough time to count the cash and have it ready when he arrived. Have a guess what the bank staff did next?
If that wasn’t dumb enough, Bailey sent a young accomplice to the bank with a note telling them to hand over the money. Maybe he was worried that the bank would get him confused with another robber? In any case, a bank employee was on the phone to the police to tell them what was happening. Bailey had told the financial institution to have $100,000 ready or else there would be a bloodbath.
The bank initiated a lockdown once the accomplice was inside and instead of receiving the six-figure sum demanded by his boss, the young man meekly accepted $900 and asked to be let out. By now, police cars were outside so when the suspect ran to the getaway car where Bailey was waiting, the pair of dummies were arrested immediately. To add to the hilarity, the criminals asked that the money was not placed in a dye pack. Their wishes were not followed so when one of them threw the bag on the ground; it exploded with dye.
Both criminals were charged with threatening in the first degree and first-degree robbery. Bailey was already on probation for another failed hold-up several years ago, so he received a nine-year prison sentence.