A Lima, Ohio, bank robber might have escaped if the masked suspect hadn’t left one major clue in the getaway car – her book bag, says the Cincinnati Enquirer. The 15-year-old girl is one of the nation’s youngest bank robbers. A judge says the girl will get mental-health care instead of prison. Harry Trombitas, a 23-year FBI veteran, can’t remember a female teen ever being involved in an Ohio bank robbery.
The FBI does not track the ages of bank robbery suspects, but a 2002 report showed that between 1996 and 2000, 3,166 people were involved in bank robberies, with just 139 between the ages 12 and 17. Only eight of the juveniles were girls. Last week, the FBI sent a memo to state bank robbery coordinators saying the agency is seeing an emerging trend in the number of juvenile bank robbery suspects. “We’re seeing women really taking a more aggressive role in bank robberies than in years past,” Trombitas said. “Women are more involved in violent crimes and bank robbery goes hand in hand with that.”
Link: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060815/NEWS01/608150335