She went from hard times — to looking at hard time.
An elderly Ohio woman apparently got so desperate for cash after being duped by an online financial scammer, she robbed a bank with a handgun, according to police.
Ann Mayers, 74, of Hamilton is accused of flashing the weapon and demanding cash at the AurGroup Credit Union in Fairfield Township on April 19, the town’s police department said in a Facebook post from April 19.
Surveillance footage allegedly shows her strolling into the bank while wearing a face mask and carrying a blue bag.
The aging stick-up kid allegedly then hopped in a 2014 silver Hyundai Elantra with a stripped license plate and drove away, cops said in the post.
Detectives later found a handgun in Mayers’ car and police say she admitted to the robbery.
When cops questioned Mayers’ family members about the crime, they claimed she had recently fallen victim to a scam to send money to an “unidentified individual,” Sgt. Brandon McCroskey told USA TODAY.
“In that aspect, some may see her as a ‘victim.’ Unfortunately, Ann chose to victimize several other people in the bank by robbing it with a firearm as a remedy for her situation,” McCroskey said in an email.
If true, “[It’s] very sad and unfortunate,” he wrote.
Still, Mayers “took the time to plan this robbery” by removing her “license plate from her car” and trying to peel off a bumper sticker to go undetected, he said.
“She also reportedly spoke to family members about robbing banks in the days leading up to the robbery but the family did not take her comments seriously,” McCroskey said.
Mayers, who has no previous criminal record, was charged with aggravated robbery with a firearm and tampering with evidence.
It wasn’t immediately clear how much money she allegedly stole from the bank.
Mayers is currently behind bars at Butler County Jail.
