Bank Robbers

The other evening Rick and I were chatting about being arrested.
Yes, we do indeed talk about the weirdest things.
I have never been arrested. I'm pretty boring.
Apparently, this man I live with has been arrested for bank robbery.

The story is funny to me. 
Because for one, it could only happen like this in 1973 and in a teeny tiny town. And the other thing I find funny is his mom's reaction to this event.

Rick was in trade school at the time (college later).
He lived in a small coal-mining town called Patton PA. 
He went to trade school in DuBois PA - 1 hour away.
He lived at home and drove to school daily. 

Rick graduated in 1973 so this would be '73-'74 time frame.
One day at lunch Barney asked Rick and their friend Pat if they wanted to go to the bank with him. He had all this change in his bank that he wanted to deposit. 
He said if you guys come with me I'll buy lunch. 
Rick and Pat jumped on that.  
Hell, even today you can get Rick to do just about anything if you dangle food in front of him. Sadly that is not an exaggeration.  But I digress...

The 3 boys were on the way to the bank and this good looking gal in hip hugger bellbottoms and a midriff shirt is walking down the street. 
(Yes Rick can tell me what she was wearing in 1973 but if I ask him what I am wearing right now after seeing me all day he would have to look)
Rick leans out the car window as only a horny 18-year-old in 1973 could do, and yells,  "Hey, where ya going?" or something equally stupid he said.   She smiles and waves to him and they keep on driving.

They get to the bank and Barney opens his trunk and he has a 3 ft tall plastic Snoopy bank. 
He asks Rick to help him carry it inside because it's really heavy. 
Rick and Pat gave him such a hard time about the Snoopy bank, again as only 18-year-old boys will do. 
He's been saving for years so when he got it he was just a kid he tells them. They didn't care, to them it was childish and they thought they were big men of 18 so they were really busting his chops.

They get inside the bank and they have to hand this big thing to the teller to put through that old fashion change sorter. 
They told the boys it would be a few minutes and to wait.

They were horsing around in the lobby. 
Barney and Pat put their fingers in their jackets pockets like a gun and are laughing and carrying on. 
When suddenly Pat yells, "hey Rick that girl you just saw is coming by" 
Rick goes to the front doors and looks left and then right and hears this commotion which makes him turn around.  
He sees his buddies are on the floor being cuffed and there is a gun pointed at him and they ask him to get on the ground.
He does what he is told.
He also about shit his drawers.

They were told they were being arrested and read their Miranda rights and then taken out to the police cruiser.  When they got outside they see that the road has been blocked off already and on the 2 story bldg across the street, there were police with guns on the roof. 
A 2 story building is a tall building in DuBois. 

They get to the Police Sation and the three of them are taken to what Rick said was like a conference room. They were all questioned together which Rick thinks is not what they would do today. 
They were told that 2 nights ago the bank was broken into through the skylight and an eye witness said it was 3 white men. 
All they got was all the change in the drawers. 

Rick said that when the 3 of them realized this was no joke the color drained from them all. He said his friends looked scared shitless and he was scared so he imagined he looked no better. 

Each of the boys had an alibi. Rick said he was home watching TV in the city of Patton and his mom and dad were there with him. They called his mother and of course, she said the same thing. Each boy gave their alibi and people were called. 

They were at the police station for 4.5 hours before they were let go. 
They were not offered attorneys and they never even thought to ask for an attorney because as Rick said, "We were hillbillies from a town of fewer than 2,000 people and no one had money for a lawyer. And we poor kids sure didn't think to lawyer up first thing back in 1973. Besides, we thought we'd be fine because we were innocent"  
Not like that today is it?

When Rick got home his mother began to cry and asked him, "What did you do Rick, what did you do?"  
He tried to calm her but she was convinced he must have done something. 
He kept repeating, "Ma I was sleeping on the sofa watching TV with you and Dad. You were in your chair and Dad was in his. We were watching TV remember? I fell asleep and then we all went to bed. I didn't do anything!"
She kept saying she remembers him there but why would they arrest you then?

His father knew he was there all night as well but for some reason, there was a doubt in Rick's moms mind. 
And let me tell you that drove Rick bat shit crazy for years.  
Now he finds it funny as hell that she always would lead with doubt. 
When we would watch Everybody Loves Raymond there was an episode when the mom knew her son Robbie was home yet she believed first that he must have done this. That was Rick's mom. 

For years it upset Rick's mom. 
She would ask for no reason if he needed money.
He would be a smart ass and said, "No, but if I did Mom I could rob a bank."
To which she would shriek! 
Once a smart ass always a smart ass you see.