Originally published at: This man robbed a bank in 1969 and vanished. On Friday, authorities found him, just a few months too late. | Boing Boing
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Interestingly after reading this article, I found the Federal statute of limitations for bank robbery is only 5 years.
https://www.federalcharges.com/bank-robbery-laws-charges/
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[Living under his assumed identity,] Conrad was well liked in his community by police officers and other law enforcement officials.
For some reason I can’t put my finger on, I doubt this person was ever subject to random traffic stops by the police or regarded with suspicion for being in the wrong neighbourhood.
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The long arm of the law was too short to catch him.
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He stole $215,000. . . so he could run away and start a new life. . . as a car salesman.
I hope he at least had a nice long “lost weekend” full of gambling and booze and hookers beforehand.
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Was just wondering what the statute of limitations were and if this guy could have been charged.
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Imagine spending your life obsessing over catching a non-violent criminal who got away with stealing some money from a bank…
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This story is yet more evidence that robbery, and bank robbery in particular, is a mug’s game. The money he stole wasn’t enough to let him not work (nor to avoid bankruptcy, as TFA mentions), but it cost him his entire identity. If he was looking to disappear, this would have eased the transition. But if, as one can’t help imagining, he thought of the loss of his identity as a price to be paid, it wasn’t worth it.
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Once. And in a not particularly flashy manner. It’s bonkers that this was the case they followed for decades. And hilarious and expected that the way he “evaded” capture for decades was to live a middle class life in the suburbs.
An article I found from 2008 explained this more clearly. He was indicted in 1969 and that stops the clock on the statue of limitations.
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I’ve a friend at the gym who is an ADA and mostly on the bank robbery beat these days. I asked her about the notion that you could probably get away with a bank robbery as one-and-done and she agreed, but “I don’t get to prosecute the smart ones – these are all frequent fliers”
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And own 10 houses at 1969 prices. Or maybe an apartment building. He probably sold cars and golf pro’d for a cover story.
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Conrad was well liked in his community by police officers and other law enforcement officials.
I’m sure that they are very good judges of character. That’s why they are so good at wrinkling out corruption and bigotry in their own ranks.
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He probably would have got more money if he stuck to the plan a little longer.
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That will do it.
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I was thinking the same thing. Like seriously, move TF on. It’s not like he robbed the bank and then proceeded to mow down a lobby full of people with a Tommy gun.
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(Apologies, going off topic…)
I wonder, did you mean to type “winkling out”?
I heard this song in the mid-1970s at Cafe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY, sung by two women folksingers from England (wish I could recall their names) and have never forgotten the chorus. I didn’t know anything about winkles before that!
(I’m afraid I don’t have anything to say about the bank robber…)
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Yes, that was the word that I was aiming for 
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Interesting he confessed to his family. He must have felt guilty? Or was it “have I got a story for you…”
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I take your point, but that’s $1.7M in today’s money. Still not Fuck You money, but at least within the realm of calculated risk.
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It’s not like he was selling cigarettes without the tax stamp or passing possibly-counterfeit $20 bills.
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