92 Year Old Bank Robber (Said To Be Oldest) Gets 12 Years in Prison

[matcom]

<snip>

LUBBOCK, Texas (Reuters) - The oldest bank robber in the United States, 92-year-old J.L. Hunter Rountree, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison on Friday after he pleaded guilty to robbing $1,999 from a Texas bank last August.

Rountree, who goes by the nickname "Red," said he robbed his first bank when he was about 80 because he wanted revenge against banks for sending him into a financial crisis.

Rountree was sentenced to 151 months in a federal prison, which he will serve at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

He appeared in court in a loose-fitting prison outfit and shackles on his ankles. He had a cane to help him walk. Rountree listened to the proceedings through headphones because he is hard of hearing.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=2&u=/nm/20040126/od_nm/crime_robber_dc

[buff2]

1. In other words they gave him life........

He probably won't live to serve all of his sentence.:eyes:

[Robb]

2. He had to know, though...

...any sentence at that age is pretty much life.

Maybe he did the calculations and figured he'd either (1) have enough money to pay for his healthcare for the rest of his life, or (2) would get caught and have the state pay for it. I mean, it's gonna be sucky prison health care, but better than nothing. :shrug:

[indepat]

4. Unfortunately prison provides a much better standard of living than

far too many jobs albeit coming with a host of ugly accoutrements.

[nuxvomica]

3. I was going to joke that he was better off in prison

than a Florida nursing home. And then I read this: He also told the paper that prison food was better than what was served at some nursing homes.

[beyurslf]

5. GQ has an article on him with an interview.

Really quite interesting. He was born poor. Married for 50 years. Lost his wife and step son in his 70's. Ran his business and was a millionaire when we retired. Was bored being retired so he started another business after he lost his wife. The business was losing money and the bank wanted to forclose (even though he was still making the loan payments) and he went bankrupt. He started robbing banks after this.

His first one was very bad and he was caught right away. But, as our great prison system does, we put him in jail with a real bank robber who taught him the ropes so when he got out he was better at it. Of course, he didn't even use a gun when he did it! In fact, if you read the GQ article, you just about know what to do yourself.

[opihimoimoi]

6. Now the State will pay for all his meds and hospital expenses

all his food, TV, Radio, etc. OOps, forgot about the exercise machines and rec units prisons have. He will live damn good in his last daze.

No Bingo for him.