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Rob Your Bank with Instagram

May 8, 2015 12:54 PM | Posted by Bill Otis | 0 Comments
In a world where the Justice Department is on a tear against the police, and "scientists" want us to believe that a college student has insufficient brain development to understand that it's wrong to blow up little boys, we can all use some amusement.

Here it is.

I have often said that the real reason suspects give statements to the police is not coercion, either explicit or subtle.  Mostly it's that they think they can talk their way out of it. A significant portion, however, is just the old stand-by:  Human beings like to talk about themselves, and criminals are human beings.

The advent of social media has made this tendency even more pronounced, so now we have bank robbers essentially doing selfies.
But even with the amusement value, or more likely to add to it, you gotta love the robber's take on why it wasn't really a robbery:

Few bank robbers are probably as polite as a man in Virginia Beach who asked a teller for $150,000 with a "please" at the end of his handwritten note.

The Virginian-Pilot reported that Dominyk Antonio Alfonseca, 23, posted a video on Instagram with a shot of a handwritten note handed to a bank teller. Then it shows her reading it and stuffing stacks of bills into a bag at the TowneBank.

Alfonseca was arrested by police about 20 minutes later, but from the city jail, he claims it wasn't a robbery.

According to the Virginian-Pilot, Alfonseca said he made no threats to anyone. And his note, he said, was even polite and included what appears to be a smiley face at the end.

The note read, "I need 150,000 Bands Right NOW!! Please Police take 3 to 4 minutes to get here, I would appreciate if you Ring the alarm a minute after I am gone . . . Make sure the money doesn't BLOW UP ON MY WAY OUT,-)"

Alfonseca noted he used the word "please" in the note. If he was trying to actually rob the bank, he said, he would have worn a mask, according to the Virginian-Pilot.

"I'm basically asking permission for money" in the video, he said. "In my eyes, I did not commit a robbery, and I feel I'm being charged without reason."

I have more than a few doubts about the truth-optional way criminal defense gets conducted, but you have to feel for the defense lawyer who winds up with this character for a client.




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