JustRalph
12-08-2008, 12:30 AM
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/12/07/robbr.html?sid=101
Check out this story, No good deed goes unpunished huh?
Stranger's kindness paid for room for man who robbed bank
Sunday, December 7, 2008 10:15 PM
By Jodi Andes
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Karl E. Smith found sympathy in a stranger as he stood outside a Grove City store in November peddling used tools.
Smith told the man that he and his wife had become homeless after he lost his job in October. The stranger was a roofer who said he had been blessed with a lot of work this year; so he charged $250 to his credit card to get the couple a motel room for a week.
What the stranger didn't know was that the couple was penniless because of their $140-a-day heroin habit. And the man couldn't have predicted that, while living off his generosity, Smith would rob a Grove City bank.
"I didn't want to tell him about my drug problem because he probably wouldn't have helped us out," Smith said from the Franklin County jail this past week.
Smith has been indicted on two counts of robbery in connection with a theft Nov. 13 at the Fifth Third Bank on Hoover Road in Grove City.
The holidays are a time of need for many families, but with the recession this year, the need is even greater, said Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher, president and chief executive officer of FirstLink. For that reason, agencies are asking families to give more than usual this year, she said.
But this case illustrates why families are asked to give through agencies.
"Agencies are aware of the families in need and what they need," she said.
It's a suggestion made for years by Downtown's Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District.
"What we say is, put your change where you can make one," said Lisa Defendiefer, the group's safety coordinator. "Not everyone wants to scam. But in more cases than not, that money you give is going to feed an addiction."
more at the link............
I love this part;
"It was not Smith's first bank robbery, though. He was convicted of four bank robberies in the 1980s. This time, Smith said, he will plead guilty to the charges he faces."
Check out this story, No good deed goes unpunished huh?
Stranger's kindness paid for room for man who robbed bank
Sunday, December 7, 2008 10:15 PM
By Jodi Andes
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Karl E. Smith found sympathy in a stranger as he stood outside a Grove City store in November peddling used tools.
Smith told the man that he and his wife had become homeless after he lost his job in October. The stranger was a roofer who said he had been blessed with a lot of work this year; so he charged $250 to his credit card to get the couple a motel room for a week.
What the stranger didn't know was that the couple was penniless because of their $140-a-day heroin habit. And the man couldn't have predicted that, while living off his generosity, Smith would rob a Grove City bank.
"I didn't want to tell him about my drug problem because he probably wouldn't have helped us out," Smith said from the Franklin County jail this past week.
Smith has been indicted on two counts of robbery in connection with a theft Nov. 13 at the Fifth Third Bank on Hoover Road in Grove City.
The holidays are a time of need for many families, but with the recession this year, the need is even greater, said Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher, president and chief executive officer of FirstLink. For that reason, agencies are asking families to give more than usual this year, she said.
But this case illustrates why families are asked to give through agencies.
"Agencies are aware of the families in need and what they need," she said.
It's a suggestion made for years by Downtown's Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District.
"What we say is, put your change where you can make one," said Lisa Defendiefer, the group's safety coordinator. "Not everyone wants to scam. But in more cases than not, that money you give is going to feed an addiction."
more at the link............
I love this part;
"It was not Smith's first bank robbery, though. He was convicted of four bank robberies in the 1980s. This time, Smith said, he will plead guilty to the charges he faces."