A man with a white beard is being held on a US$10,000 bond for allegedly robbing a Colorado bank and throwing the stolen cash into the air while shouting: “Merry Christmas” to passersby, police and local media reported on Tuesday.
David Wayne Oliver, 65, was arrested at a nearby Starbucks coffee shop after he held up the Academy Bank in Colorado Springs on Monday afternoon, police said.
The suspect had “threatened the use of a weapon” and left the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash, they said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Colorado Springs television station KKTV reported that eyewitness Dion Pascale said that Oliver stepped outside the bank and tossed the money “all over the place.”
“He started throwing money out of the bag and then said: ‘Merry Christmas,’” the TV station quoted Pascale as saying.
Bystanders retrieved some of the money and returned it to the bank as Oliver walked to the Starbucks, sat down and appeared to be waiting for police to arrest him, Pascale said.
The Denver Post quoted police as saying that “thousands of dollars” remained unaccounted for, adding that there was no indication Oliver used a weapon in the heist.
Oliver is being held at the El Paso County jail and is set to make his first court appearance today, jail records showed.
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