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Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Much of the following is from ace Daily News intern Morgan Zalot:

Turns out the shuffling thief who held up a Center City bank on Monday isn’t so elderly, after all.
Jerry Lee Stanton, who was arrested earlier today by FBI agents at the West Philadelphia personal care home where he lives, is actually 59 years old — not in his 70s, as law enforcement officials suggested earlier this week.
According to his old pals, Stanton is a sad and lonesome guy who might have viewed robbing a bank as a way out of his doldrums.
“I know he was depressed,” said James Smith, who lived with Stanton at the Walnut Manor, at 50th and Walnut streets.
Smith and a handful of other residents mulled over Stanton’s arrest as they huddled on a porch outside the Manor, which is actually a pair of rowhouses that provide shelter and care for 24 men.
“I know he ain’t coming back. It’s very depressed in here, [emotionally] and financially. He didn’t wanna listen to everyone. This wasn’t for him,” Smith said.
FBI officials said Stanton entered the Citizens Bank, at 20th and Market streets, shortly after 9:30 a.m. Monday.
Surveillance footage showed Stanton handing a dirty pillowcase to a bank teller and then demanding cash. He fled on foot after the teller met his demand.
Investigators took note of Stanton’s hunched shoulders, oversized large sunglasses and wrinkled face, and initially suggested that he was in his 60s or 70s.
The specter of a puttering, elderly bandit attracted widespread media attention.
Law enforcement sources said the FBI received a flurry of tip calls this morning, including one from a Daily News reader who recognized Stanton from a surveillance image that was featured on the front page of the paper.
The eagle-eyed reader told investigators where Stanton lived. About 10:30 a.m., several agents arrived at the Walnut Manor.
 

FBI spokeswoman Vicki Humphreys said Stanton was charged locally, not federally, with robbery and related offenses.
“We don’t charge every bank robber federally,” she said. “In this particular case, I’m not sure what was the deciding factor to charge him locally.” Donald James Leon Hill IV, 52, another resident of Walnut Manor, said he doesn’t believe Stanton perpetrated the robbery.
“It \[the photo and video\] didn’t look like him,” Hill said, adding that the only suspicious thing he’d ever seen Stanton do was come home one day wearing “big, dark lady sunglasses.”
“I can’t believe Jerry would rob a bank,” Hill continued. “He’s the kindest guy in the world.”



 

Posted by David Gambacorta @ 9:42 PM  Permalink | 3 comments
Comments   
Posted 11:27 PM, 06/09/2009
br567rj
Who knows, he may have just wanted the adventure. Or the attention.
Posted 11:49 PM, 06/09/2009
phillyconfidential
Based on his friends' description, I think Jerry Lee might have had a "I doubt they'll kick up any fuss for an old crook like me," moment, like Brooks in Shawshank Redemption.
Posted 07:30 PM, 06/15/2009
CleanupPhilly
They want to go to prison sometimes. They prefer the undemanding life in prison.
3 comments
About David Gambacorta and Dafney Tales
David Gambacorta has covered cops, criminals and everyone in between at the Daily News since 2005. He grew up in South Philadelphia and studied journalism at Temple University. And yes, he knows you have a hard time pronouncing his last name.

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Dafney Tales has covered cops, criminals and cats getting caught in car engines at the Daily News since 2007. She, too, studied journalism at Temple University, but grew up in Boston, Mass. And yes, she knows you think her last name is pretty cool for a writer.