Putting up a solid challenge to heavyweight crazy champion “Florida man,” a Maine man simply went for it and duped his father into becoming his personal getaway driver after robbing a bank in Lewiston, Maine last week.
According to the Sun Journal, Joseph Tilton hitched a ride to an Androscoggin Bank branch with plans for a stickup. The driver? Tilton’s dad, Keith Tilton, who thought his dear son was just stopping in to cash a check. Keith told police he’d been talking to his son about checking into a drug treatment center at a local hospital earlier that day but couldn’t talk Joseph into leaving the car, who asked for a ride to cash a check instead.
The son entered the bank with the intention to demand cash using a note but abandoned that plan once inside, cursing and demanding money instead. If duping his dad into becoming his getaway driver wasn’t bad enough, Tilton then left his unused note at the scene of the crime, written on a vehicle repair slip with his father’s name on it.
Tilton made his way out of the bank flush with enough cash for at least a somewhat decent one-night bender—$620 cash in all. Bank tellers triggered the alarm and locked the exterior doors, summoning police in the process.
After leaving the bank, Keith took his son to a location across town, where the son was acting strange and tried leaving his clothing in the car. Then, as if this was all scripted for a movie, Keith drove back past the bank branch his son had just robbed, noticing a significant number of police vehicles in the parking lot. The teller got a good look at the getaway car and alerted the police when she saw it driving by again.
Keith, not knowing he was a fugitive, was quickly found by police less than a block from the bank, and only then he realized he’d been thrown under the bus. Thankfully for Keith, police believed his story and only charged his son.
Thirty-nine-year-old Tilton, on the other hand, will not be so lucky. Besides making family Thanksgivings awkward for quite a while, he was handed felony robbery charges by the Androscoggin County Superior Court; a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. As a bonus, he’ll also see theft charges, which could add another five years to his sentence.
If he’s released on $50,000 bail, the deceptive son would be barred from having drugs, alcohol, or weapons. He’ll also be prohibited from entering any Androscoggin Bank branch or contacting the teller.