Free Republic

Demontrion Deshan Phillips was on court-ordered supervised release for two 2017 bank robberies when he robbed two other banks ... An Illinois man was found guilty last week of robbing two banks last year, heists that were committed while he was on supervised release for committing two other bank robberies... Demontrion Deshan Phillips, 28, stole $5,930 during an April 27, 2021, from the Midland States Bank in Rockford, and another $4,408 in a robbery of Midland States Bank in Belvidere weeks later... He was convicted of four counts of bank robbery after a four-day trial. .... In the Belvidere robbery,...

FBI Suspected McVeigh Link to Robbers JOHN SOLOMON Associated Press WASHINGTON - The FBI believed Timothy McVeigh tried to recruit additional help in the days before the deadly 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and gathered evidence that white supremacist bank robbers may have become involved, according to government documents never introduced at McVeigh's trial. The retired FBI chief of the Oklahoma City investigation, Dan Defenbaugh, said he was unaware of some evidence obtained by The Associated Press and that the investigation should be reopened to determine whether the robbery gang was linked to McVeigh. The evidence never shared with Defenbaugh's investigators...

NEW BEDFORD — A district court judge ordered bail today for two suspects in a recent string of bank robberies. Kristopher Santillo, 21, of New Bedford, was held on $20,000 cash bail while Caitlin Ingham, 17, of Freetown, was held on $3,500 cash bail. Police traced both suspects Monday to a room at the Dartmouth Motor Inn. Both were wanted on unarmed robbery charges stemming from heists in New Bedford, Dartmouth and Acushnet where they allegedly slipped notes to bank tellers demanding money.

NEFA Foundation: Fatah al-Islam Claims Death of Leader, Endorses Terror Financing Through Bank Robberies SNIPPET: "Fatah al-Islam was also specifically insistent on the legitimacy of committing bank robberies as a financing tactic: “we say, relying on Allah, that stealing money from the infidels, from the usurious banks and the institutions which belong to the infidel regimes and states, is a legal thing which Allah has permitted us to do. This money is being seized from them and instead directed towards jihad and the mujahideen in order to fulfill their needs, to buy equipment etc.” English translations of the communiques can...

DETROIT A former Detroit police detective has been found guilty of bank robbery charges. Walter John Bates, of Southfield, was convicted by federal jury for robbing an Oak Park bank on October 4th, 2002. Officials say at the time of robbery, Bates was a member of the Detroit Police Department Homicide Squad. His brother, Albert Stephen Bates, was also convicted of committing five individual bank robberies. He was acquitted of two other bank robbery charges. Both were also convicted of conspiring to commit a series of bank robberies in the summer of 2002. Officials say the two and others robbed...

Banks in the European Union are robbed at a rate of one every 90 minutes, according to a new report that also highlights the increasing brutality of raids. "While the number of robberies of bank branches has generally seen a small rise, some tendencies are more worrying: the violence of certain modus operandi and the means used by the perpetrators," the report by the European Banking Federation (FBE) says. Banks have for many decades grown used to viewing issues such as over-regulation, credit defaults and stock market crashes as the principal risks to their operations. However, the report makes clear...

Bank robberies might be down in Los Angeles, but holdups by lone pistol-packing men with nicknames like "The Armed Old Man Bandit" and "The Big Belly Bandit" have helped preserve the region's reputation as the nation's bank-heist capital. Violent bank takeovers by large gangs - typically made up of 18- to 30-year-olds - have declined since their peak in the early 1990s, largely because many gangs have been rounded up and because of tougher security measures, officials said. The trend is toward "note job" heists - about 75 percent of all holdups this year - often committed by middle-age and...

Onstage Murder Could've Been Prevented, Security Experts Say Concert venues need trained staff and metal detectors, they insist. The onstage murder of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott leaves not just Damageplan fans, but concertgoers everywhere, with many troubling concerns. Chief among them was that the tragedy might have been prevented for less than $50, the price of a handheld metal detector. "It should have been a common practice. It should have been something they had," said Paul Wertheimer of Crowd Management Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in concert safety. "If it was used right, it would have caught the gun and you...

NYC police on watch for Port courthouse bomber By Andy Smith and Stephanie Akin Staff writers New York City police are targeting a man who bombed Newburyport Superior Court 28 years ago, saying he poses a threat to next week's Republican National Convention. But an anti-war activist group has accused police of trying to "smear" their reputation by linking the group with the convicted radical who terrorized New England with a series of bombings in the 1970s. New York City police say Richard J. Picariello, 55, is among 50 activists whose criminal histories will earn them extra attention next week....

Robberies at banks and credit unions in Missouri have dropped 36 percent in the past year, and some people attribute the decline to a new dress code. Last year, more than 200 Missouri financial institutions adopted a "No hats, no hoods, no sunglasses" policy that had previously been used only in the Springfield area. Crime statistics released by the FBI indicate 42 fewer robberies in the first year that the policy has been in effect statewide. From May 20, 2002, to May 1, 2003, there were 117 robberies at Missouri financial institutions. From the time the policy became effective statewide...