1. Elderly bank robber
2. Repeat offender bank heists.

Accident – Death – Obituary News :

83-Year-Old Bank Robber Back Behind Bars

An octogenarian man who spent more than three decades in prison for a series of bank robberies in the 1980s has once again found himself on the wrong side of the law. Donald “Doc” Bennett, formerly known as the “leaping bandit” for his acrobatic bank heists, was apprehended by federal officials following a recent armed robbery at a Chase bank in Hickory Hills, Illinois, on Valentine’s Day.

Accompanied by 55-year-old Edward Binert, Bennett, a resident of Campbellsville, Kentucky, was promptly arrested and charged with armed robbery. Both men are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Chicago on Thursday for a detention hearing.

Having been released from prison in 2020 after serving 31 years of a 50-year sentence, Bennett’s criminal activities seem to have resumed. Binert reportedly confessed to his involvement in the Valentine’s Day robbery, claiming to have met Bennett while incarcerated in Michigan back in 2006.

Authorities raided Binert’s home in Oak Lawn, Illinois, where they discovered incriminating evidence linking the duo to the heist. The seized items included weapons, a disguise in the form of a brown wig, stolen currency, and other incriminating materials.

The FBI suspects that Bennett may be linked to seven bank robberies that have occurred in the Chicago suburbs since June 27, with similarities in the modus operandi including the use of a face covering, brandishing a handgun, and utilizing rental vehicles as getaway cars.

Bennett and Binert were identified as suspects due to their use of real names and identification when renting vehicles for the robberies. This led to their swift apprehension and subsequent charges.

Interestingly, Bennett’s arrest comes on the heels of another elderly bank robber, 71-year-old Bruce Edward Bell, who was nabbed for a bank heist in Sun Valley, California. Bell, who had served 40 years in federal prison, was arrested shortly after his release in 2021.

It is worth noting that the title of the nation’s oldest convicted bank robber belongs to J.L. Hunter “Red” Rountree, who at the age of 91, pleaded guilty to a bank robbery in Abilene, Texas, in 2003. Rountree passed away in 2004 while serving his sentence in a federal prison in Springfield, Missouri.

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– 83-year-old convicted robber
– Bank heists series.