A 78-year-old woman with two previous convictions for bank robbery was arrested while trying to rob another bank. The Pleasant Hill, Missouri Police Department said that Bonnie Gooch walked into Goppert Financial Bank last week and handed the teller a note demanding "13,000 small bills."
Gooch also apologized to the teller, writing, "Thank you, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
She left the bank with the money but was stopped by officers about two miles away. Officers said that her breath smelled strongly of alcohol, and they found the stolen bills scattered throughout her car.
She was taken into custody and charged with stealing or attempted stealing from a financial institution. She is being held in prison on a $25,000 cash bond. Officials did not say why Gooch tried to rob the bank.
Gooch was previously convicted of robbing a bank in California in 1977 and a bank in the Kansas City suburb of Lee's Summit in 2020. Her probation for the second conviction ended in November 2021.
When locals heard about the robbery, they were shocked that it was committed by an elderly woman.
"I mean, it doesn't seem or sound believable," Justin Lewis, the manager of a nearby restaurant, told WDAF. "My first reaction was like, 'Of course, in Pleasant Hill.'"