More robbers than you’d think have made the mistake of filling out an application at a place they’ve held up, and plenty of them have written holdup notes on papers that have their names and addresses on them. But then there’s Troy F. Mitchell, who pulled off the rare feat of doing both in the same month.
According to court documents, on May 14, while on supervised release after serving a prison term for a previous conviction, Mitchell entered the Valley First Credit Union in Modesto and passed a note to a bank teller demanding $5,000 in cash. While the teller was complying with Mitchell’s demand, another teller who recognized Mitchell walked by and said, “Hi, Troy.” Mitchell acknowledged the second teller and left the bank with $5,000 in cash.
Authorities said Mitchell had filed an auto loan application with the bank on April 3. The application included a copy of his driver’s license. Immediately after the robbery, a bank employee retrieved the application and gave it to the Modesto Police Department, which matched surveillance photos of the robber to the picture on Mitchell’s driver’s license.On May 31, Mitchell entered a Bank of the West branch in Stockton and passed a teller a note demanding $100 bills. The teller gave Mitchell more than $5,100 in cash. Mitchell then left the bank, leaving behind the note, which was written on the back of a voided paycheck made out to Troy F. Mitchell. The paycheck listed Mitchell’s home address.
Mitchell did manage to do one smart thing, at least. He pleaded guilty to two counts of bank robbery.
