91-year-old in jail for robbing third bank in five years
By Associated Press, 8/13/2003
ABILENE, Texas -- Authorities say convicted bank robber J.L. Hunter "Red" Rountree isn't letting old age stand in his way.
The 91-year-old Texas man is back behind bars, accused of robbing his third bank in five years.
Police say Rountree walked into a branch of First American Bank in Abilene about 10 a.m. Tuesday, demanded money from a teller and passed over a large envelope with "ROBBERY" written on it.
He left in a car parked near the bank, but a witness got the license plate, which police tracked to an address in Goldthwaite, 110 miles southeast of Abilene. About a half-hour later, Rountree was pulled over by officers 16 miles south of Abilene on U.S. 84 on his way home.
Rountree was jailed on a charge of bank robbery. Bail was set at $150,000.
On Dec. 9, 1998, one week before his 87th birthday, Rountree was arrested in Biloxi, Miss., minutes after he robbed a bank. He was eventually given three years probation, fined $260 and told to leave Mississippi.
In October 1999, he was arrested outside a NationsBank in Pensacola, Fla., after giving a teller a note that said "ROBBERY" written in red ink and telling her, "Give me the $100s." He was convicted of bank robbery and sentenced to three years in prison, becoming the oldest inmate in the Florida prison system.
Abilene Police Sgt. Mike Perry said about $2,000 was taken in Tuesday's robbery.
i'll bet he parked in a handicapped spot.
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