Bank robber escapes via inner tube !?! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

riorust · #1 10-02-2008, 04:44 PM

Talking about American Ingenuity....

Bank car robber escapes on Skykomish River

08:54 AM PDT on Wednesday, October 1, 2008

KING5.com Staff

MONROE, Wash. - A brazen bank robbery suspect maced the guard of an armored truck before making his escape in an inner tube on the Skykomish River.
And, in a move that could be out of a Holywood movie, the robber apparently had placed a Craigslist ad to set up a diversion - using people to help pull off the crime when they didn't even know they were part of it until it was too late.

http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_093008WAB_monroe_robber_floating_escape_TP.c991cc6c.html

Fulcrum525 · #2 10-02-2008, 07:32 PM

The craigslist thing was actually pretty clever.....until they decide to track the account, Doh!

(We'll know if he's actually smart if he used a public computer that doesn't have cameras on them or require an ID to gain access)

cmac2012 · #3 10-02-2008, 07:59 PM

It's getting harder and harder to find public computers that don't track you somehow. Some of the libraries here now require you to log in even when using their wi-fi, which is one of the avenues that one might be able to skate on still -- not that I'm planning to try to evade the law mind you.

I've been through Monroe many times and swam in that river once.

riorust · #4 10-02-2008, 08:10 PM

Couldn't a person post on Craigslist via a web enabled, prepaid cell phone and then ditch it in the river while floating away?

cmac2012 · #5 10-02-2008, 08:21 PM

I thought the one class of users that has to pay for listing on Craigslist was employers looking for help, which is what this guy's ad was about.

Would be pretty hard to cover those tracks.

Mister Byrnzoil · #6 11-07-2008, 09:55 PM

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/cnet/20081107/tc_cnet/83011357731008619836

"Police in Monroe, Wash., say they've arrested that guy who robbed an armored car outside a bank, hired unsuspecting dress-alike decoys on Craigslist to fool authorities, and escaped downriver in an inner tube, according to the Seattle Times. Contrary to what news media had speculated, tracking him down doesn't seem to have involved Craigslist at all.
Three weeks prior to the September 30 robbery, a homeless man contacted city authorities after seeing someone recover an oddball array of items from behind the same bank branch--a black wig, a reflective safety vest, dark glasses, a two-way radio, a baseball cap, and a can of mace--and provided a license plate number. It's believed that the witness may have seen a test run of the heist-in-progress.
The actual robbery, as fans of wacky news may recall, involved a dozen people responding to a Craigslist ad for road maintenance workers who were asked to show up near the same Bank of America branch wearing a very similar outfit.
Using the license plate data, cops tracked down 28-year-old Anthony J. Curcio, recovered a "significant" amount of money from him, and are holding him in the Snohomish County Jail. His family had apparently recently had some financial difficulties, and had a prior home foreclosed. Curcio also had an infant daughter born 10 days before the robbery, according to birth announcements that the Seattle Times surfaced. Quick--somebody give him a job devising plots for CSI.
But it's not over yet: "(Police) still want to know what role the inner tube played in the robbery," the Seattle Times reported. "They believe it may have been stolen. They are asking anyone with information regarding the yellow inner tube, or the robbery, to call the Monroe Police Department."
Please, think of the inner tubes."

Dang, I kinda wish he'd have gotten away with it