FBI: Elderly ex-con robbed bank in hopes of returning to prison
CHICAGO (AP) - After spending most of his adult life behind bars, 73-year-old Walter Unbehaun decided to rob another bank in hopes of getting caught. He felt more comfortable in prison, court documents allege, and wanted to spend his final years there.
So the balding, gray-haired South Carolina man leaned on a cane as he walked into a bank in suburban Chicago over the weekend and used a novel stickup line: He had just six months to live, so he had nothing left to lose, according to a federal complaint citing his post-arrest interrogation.
Unbehaun also allegedly lifted his coat to show a teller a silver revolver shoved into his waistband.
Investigators say Unbehaun, of Rock Hill, S.C., walked out of the Harris Bank in Niles on Saturday with $4,178 in his pockets. He wore no disguises, so law enforcement quickly tracked him down using surveillance-camera photos of him holding up the bank, the complaint said.
When authorities stopped Unbehaun on Sunday outside a motel room where he was staying, he immediately threw down his cane and surrendered, saying he knew they were there because he robbed a bank the day before, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Unbehaun told investigators hours after his arrest that he had spent most of his adult life in prison and "felt more comfortable in prison than out."
"He wanted to do something that would guarantee that he would spend the rest of his life in prison, and he knew that robbing a bank with a loaded gun would accomplish that," according to the complaint, signed by FBI agent Chad Piontek.
Contacted on Tuesday, Unbehaun's defense attorney, Richard McLeese, declined comment.
Unbehaun's most recent stint behind bars ended in 2011, when he was released after serving 10 years for a 1998 bank robbery. His Illinois record alone includes multiple other felonies dating back decades.
Unbehaun made an initial court appearance Monday in Chicago and was ordered to remain in jail pending further court procedures. No additional hearing dates were set.
If he is eventually convicted on the new bank robbery charge, he could be sent to prison for up to 20 years.
So the balding, gray-haired South Carolina man leaned on a cane as he walked into a bank in suburban Chicago over the weekend and used a novel stickup line: He had just six months to live, so he had nothing left to lose, according to a federal complaint citing his post-arrest interrogation.
Unbehaun also allegedly lifted his coat to show a teller a silver revolver shoved into his waistband.
Investigators say Unbehaun, of Rock Hill, S.C., walked out of the Harris Bank in Niles on Saturday with $4,178 in his pockets. He wore no disguises, so law enforcement quickly tracked him down using surveillance-camera photos of him holding up the bank, the complaint said.
When authorities stopped Unbehaun on Sunday outside a motel room where he was staying, he immediately threw down his cane and surrendered, saying he knew they were there because he robbed a bank the day before, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Unbehaun told investigators hours after his arrest that he had spent most of his adult life in prison and "felt more comfortable in prison than out."
"He wanted to do something that would guarantee that he would spend the rest of his life in prison, and he knew that robbing a bank with a loaded gun would accomplish that," according to the complaint, signed by FBI agent Chad Piontek.
Contacted on Tuesday, Unbehaun's defense attorney, Richard McLeese, declined comment.
Unbehaun's most recent stint behind bars ended in 2011, when he was released after serving 10 years for a 1998 bank robbery. His Illinois record alone includes multiple other felonies dating back decades.
Unbehaun made an initial court appearance Monday in Chicago and was ordered to remain in jail pending further court procedures. No additional hearing dates were set.
If he is eventually convicted on the new bank robbery charge, he could be sent to prison for up to 20 years.
This same concept is shown in the Shawshank Redemption.
What a sad life. Â
Oh gee AP, no information on how a convicted felon got a gun? Private sale? Was there a "universal" background check? Stunning you have no interest at all considering what you've been trying to push on the law abiding citizens of the country.
@jimbob IN CHICAGO no less. Looks like that gun control is working well ha?? Oh, but they want to implement those same restriction here in WA. They so tried to slip that in under this frenzy of Sandy Hook.
is this someone's father? or grandfather?
somebody's grandfather?
Â
Pretty sad testimonial to the ACTUAL state of our country, when one would choose death in prison over being "free" like the rest of us.
@Harley-H.S.C.
Yes it IS sad, kind of depressing too. I guess having spent so much time in prison he did not have a retirement fund or much Social Security. Â At his age it's hard to get any job. Â I do not imagine having a felony helped his job prospects either.
The choices we make in life have consequences, a fact I'm sure he knows all too well.
Â
Don't let him do it!
Give him a worse punishment - put him in a poorly-reputed assisted living facility.
I guess this retirement plan beats no plan
I wish more criminals who obviously didn't feel they were in jail long enough would feel the same way, since we can't keep them there long enough.
 @Zoso How about they have the decency to off themselves instead of forcing the rest of us to feed, clothe and house them?
 @NW-Economist Really wouldn't mind that either. Wish that cop killer did so.
My dad worked at a prison before retirement and I remember one prisoner there who did something similar, though due to homelessness. He was an elderly man and sadly had no place to live and no family to help him, so he robbed a bank and then sat down on the curb outside to await police.
Sad.
This happens often when they are inside so long that they become institutionalized
 @Gaikokujin Just like Brooks from The Shawshank Redemption.Â