A Garland, Texas man must have thought he had found his life's calling after successfully robbing three banks in three weeks. But even the very best bank robbers have some very bad days. Like the day his own mother turned him in to the FBI.
According to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, 19 year old Anthony Blue started out strong, robbing not just one, but two banks on June 14, 2011. Blue first walked into the State Bank of Texas in Garland and handed a teller a pointed but apologetic note that read, "50's 100's and nobody gets hurt, sorry." The teller complied and Blue, along with his loot, left the bank.
Emboldened by his success in Garland, Blue drove directly to the Community Bank in nearby Rockwall, Texas. Apparently also a dedicated recycler, Blue passed a teller the same note he had just used in the Garland robbery and once again walked away with the cash.
Then on July 8, 2011, with the bit of badness now firmly in his teeth, Blue targeted the American National Bank in Quinlan, Texas. This time, his note to the teller read, "Empty Drawer 20's, 50's, 100's, 5 seconds." The teller emptied the draw, handed over the money and once again Blue was a richer man.
Now well on his way to becoming a member of the "1 Percent," Blue was unaware that back in Garland, his mother was surfing the crime fighting bandittracker.com website, which features bank surveillance pictures of Texas bank robbery suspects.
Based on her visit to bandittracker.com, Blue's mother called the FBI and reported she thought her Anthony had robbed the Garland and Stonewall banks. Following up on the call, FBI agents showed Blue's mother and her husband additional surveillance photos from the Garland and Stonewall robberies, along with a photo of the Quinlan robbery. Both Blue's mom and her husband tagged Blue as the robber of all three banks.
On January 12, Anthony Blue pleaded guilty to three counts of bank robbery and now faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the three counts. Sentencing is scheduled for April 9, 2012
According to the FBI, bank robbers managed to make it out of banks with more than $9.3 million - mostly in cash - during 2010, of which about $1.4 million was recovered and returned to the victim banks.
Also See: Mom, Apple Pie and Bank Robbery
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