A 78-year-old woman is facing bank robbery charges after she allegedly pulled off a heist in Missouri, where authorities say she handed the teller a note that ended with "I didn't mean to scare you," The Associated Press reports. Authorities said this would be the woman's third time facing similar charges, as she has two past convictions for robbing banks.
Bonnie Gooch is being held on a $25,000 bond after she was charged with "one count of stealing or attempting to steal from a financial institution" after targeting a bank in Pleasant Hill, The Kansas City Star reports. She was previously convicted of "robbing a California bank in 1977 and one in the Kansas City suburb of Lee's Summit in 2020," AP adds — her probation for the second conviction ended in November 2021.
Witnesses report that Gooch, "dressed all in gray, with plastic gloves, a black N95 mask, and black sunglasses", the Star recounts, approached the teller at the counter and passed them a note that said in part, "... is a robbery I need 13,000 small bills … thank you sorry I didn't mean to scare you," per documents filed in Cass County Circuit Court. She was also captured on surveillance video banging on the counter, asking the teller to hurry, prosecutors said. "The woman allegedly advised the teller not to count the money and 'just give it to her,'" the Star adds.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Officers located the suspect less than 2 miles away in the parking lot of an animal clinic. She smelled strongly of alcohol, prosecutors alleged, and police found a large amount of cash scattered around the car's floorboard. "It's just sad," Pleasant Hill Police Chief Tommy Wright told the Star, adding that the suspect had no "diagnosed" issues. Wright also called the case "unusual," saying he'd never encountered a bank robbery suspect Gooch's age in his 30 years of police work.
-
Home Depots are the new epicenters of ICE raidsIn the Spotlight The chain has not provided many comments on the ongoing raids
-
Why does Trump keep interfering in the NYC mayoral race?Today's Big Question The president has seemingly taken an outsized interest in his hometown elections, but are his efforts to block Zohran Mamdani about political expediency or something deeper?
-
The pros and cons of banning cellphones in classroomsPros and cons The devices could be major distractions
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school massSpeed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
