October 3, 2008 8:13 AM PDT
Posted by Caroline McCarthy



In an elaborate robbery scheme that's one part The Thomas Crowne Affair and one part Pineapple Express, a crook robbed an armored truck outside a Bank of America branch in Monroe, Wash., by hiring decoys through Craigslist to deter authorities.

It gets better: He then escaped in a creek headed for the Skykomish River in an inner tube, and the cops are still looking for him. "A great amount of money" was taken, Monroe police said, but did not provide a dollar value.

It appears to have unfolded this way, according to a Seattle-based NBC affiliate: around 11:00 a.m. PDT on Tuesday, the robber, wearing a yellow vest, safety goggles, a blue shirt, and a respirator mask went over to a guard who was overseeing the unloading of cash to the bank from the truck. He sprayed the guard with pepper spray, grabbed his bag of money, and fled the scene.

But here's the hilarious twist. The robber had previously put out a Craigslist ad for road maintenance workers, promising wages of $28.50 per hour. Recruits were asked to wait near the Bank of America right around the time of the robbery--wearing yellow vests, safety goggles, a respirator mask, and preferably a blue shirt. At least a dozen of them showed up after responding to the Craigslist ad.

"I came across the ad that was for a prevailing wage job for $28.50 an hour," one of the unwitting decoys, named Mike, said to the NBC station. As it turns out, they were simply placed there to confuse cops who were looking for a guy wearing a virtually identical outfit.

Authorities eventually found the getaway inner tube (a getaway inner tube!) and suspect that accomplices may have picked up the robber in a boat. According to the NBC affiliate, police hope to track him down by figuring out who posted the Craigslist ad in the first place.

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark was not immediately available for comment.


Source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10057472-36.html

I wonder how long we will have to wait before they make a movie out of this one.

I wonder how long we will have to wait before they make a movie out of this one.

He actually stole it from the movie "the thomas crown affair"...

Oh God, this is so awesome. It makes me want to be a criminal.

He actually stole it from the movie "the thomas crown affair"...

I mean, they will make a movie about how this guy stole the idea from the other movie and carried it out to fruition.

I knew it was only a matter of time before something like this would happen.

Internets+1

I know! It was on tv recently and I thought "some day, somebody is gonna steal this idea" and what do you know...

That's pretty hardcore. That's all I have to say on this.