5 Least Successful Bank Robbers Ever

In the annals of criminal endeavors, bank robbery holds a notorious spot. Yet not all robbers leave with bags of cash and a getaway car speeding towards the sunset. Some, due to a combination of poor planning and outright bad luck, end up becoming tales of what not to do. Here’s a look at five of the least successful bank robbers, whose heist plans turned into fiascos.

1. Sleeping on the Job

In Florida, a notorious trio planned a heist in 2010 to steal millions from a South Beach bank, but made the rookie mistake of attempting the robbery on a Sunday when the bank was closed and the vault inaccessible. Undeterred by their oversight, Oscar Montoya and Juan Hernandez collected what little they could in small change, only to be encumbered by its weight.

Their getaway was further complicated by their accomplice, Ricard Barrios, who was found drunk and asleep in their escape vehicle. Their poorly executed plan led to an easy arrest by the police, especially since Barrios, the unintended getaway driver, was only charged with resisting arrest, underscoring a chaotic attempt at crime gone comically wrong.

2. An Attempt for Justice

In 1972, a band of burglars from Ohio believed they had insider information on a slush fund owned by President Richard Nixon, stashed in a California bank. Motivated by a mix of greed and a desire for justice, they executed a sophisticated heist, breaking into the vault to steal an estimated $8 million worth of cash, stocks, bonds, and jewelry.

The crew’s success, however, was short lived… Despite their meticulous planning, their operation eventually unraveled when investigators linked them to a similar crime in Ohio, thanks to fingerprints found on dishes in their temporary California residence. Adding irony to their capture, the vault they thought belonged to Nixon was, in fact, not his.

3. Poor Choice of Disguise

Across the pond, Dean Smith’s plan to rob his local Barclays bank in 2014 immediately fell apart due to his inadequate disguise. Having visited the bank just half an hour earlier to change his address, the same teller he then attempted to rob recognized him, despite his sunglasses and socks-over-shoes ‘disguise.’ The police, already having his details on file, made an effortless arrest.

4. A Fiery Fiasco

In 2016, Jason Kovar and an accomplice attempted to break into an ATM outside an Everett, Washington, bank using a blowtorch, only for their plan to dramatically fail when the machine caught fire. This unexpected turn of events triggered alarms, and in a desperate move to extinguish the flames, one of the robbers resorted to urinating on the burning cash, to no avail.

The fire overwhelmed their efforts, forcing them to flee empty-handed. The aftermath saw the bank offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to their capture, and as of the last update, they have yet to face sentencing for their botched heist.

5. Security Tape Blunder

One of the most ambitious but ultimately foiled heists involved the theft of $17 million from the Loomis vault by disgruntled employee David Ghantt and accomplices in 1997. Despite initially making off with the loot, a forgotten security tape led to Ghantt’s capture in Mexico, and extravagant spending by his co-conspirators quickly attracted police attention, resulting in 24 people being charged and the recovery of most of the money, all except for the still-missing $2 million.

While some criminals go to great lengths to plan and execute their heists, others fall short in execution or judgement, leading to outcomes that are as bewildering as they are entertaining.

References: Top 10 Heists That Failed Spectacularly | 8 of the Most Successful Bank Robberies in History