https://www.military.com/daily-news...set-deadly-robbery-fund-foreign-fighting.html
FBI: Soldiers Set Up Deadly Robbery to Fund Foreign Fighting
This undated booking photo from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office shows Alex Zwiefelhofer. Zwiefelhofer is a co-defendant in the April 2018 killings of a Florida couple. Federal authorities believe Zwiefelhofer and fellow Army veteran Craig Lang robbed and gunned down the couple, Serafin and Deana Lorenzo, to finance a Venezuela trip. (Pinellas County Sheriff's Office via AP)
27 Mar 2020
The Associated Press | By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and YURAS KARMANAU
The two former U.S. Army soldiers met in Ukraine, where they joined the same far-right paramilitary group. After getting deported, they planned to take a boat from Miami to South America. They wanted to fight the socialist Venezuelan government and kill “communists.”
That’s what Alex Zwiefelhofer told the FBI agent and police detectives who questioned him about the fatal shooting of a Florida couple in April 2018. Federal authorities believe Zwiefelhofer and fellow Army veteran Craig Lang arranged the deadly robbery of Serafin and Deana Lorenzo to finance the Venezuela trip.
Nearly two years after the killings, Zwiefelhofer, 22, is awaiting trial in Fort Myers, Florida, on federal charges punishable by a death sentence, while Lang, 29, faces the same charges as he fights his extradition from Ukraine, where he married a woman last year and is now under house arrest. One of his attorneys has said it could take years for the extradition case to be resolved.
In the U.S., authorities portray Lang and Zwiefelhofer as cold-blooded killers. In Ukraine, a defense lawyer blames the U.S. government for not doing more to help Lang and other veterans adapt to life off the battlefield.
“The man was just searching for a spot on the world map to catch a bullet and die,” Lang's attorney, Dmytro Morhun, told The Associated Press. “But he has found a new life, a new love, a new family” in Ukraine, Morhun said.
Lang, a North Carolina native, was discharged from the Army in 2014. Zwiefelhofer, a Wisconsin native, was discharged in 2018 after going absent without leave in September 2016.
The two met in Ukraine in 2016. Zwiefelhofer told authorities that he and Lang joined Right Sector, an ultranationalist group fighting Russia-backed separatists. Right-wing volunteer battalions played a key role in the separatist conflict that erupted in 2014 in eastern Ukraine after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
The fighting attracted thousands of volunteers from the U.S. and Europe. Some foreign combatants were driven by white supremacist ideology, but soldiers who served with Lang in Ukraine said they never heard him express any racist or extremist views.
A woman who fought alongside Lang in Ukraine described him as “calm and reasonable” but said he had personal problems connected to a divorce and child custody battle. “He went to fight in Ukraine because he had no other place to go,” said the woman, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Elena, for security reasons.
In 2017, Zwiefelhofer and Lang traveled to Africa but were detained by Kenyan authorities when they tried to enter South Sudan. They eventually were deported to the U.S.
Brian Boyenger, a veteran of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, said he spent a few months with Lang on the front lines in Ukraine.
“He conducted himself as a disciplined and professional soldier,” Boyenger wrote in a Facebook message. “The things he is accused of were a surprise to me.”
On the night of April 9, 2018, the sheriff’s office in Lee County, Florida, received 911 calls reporting gunfire in the community of Estero. Deputies searched the area but didn’t find any sign of a shooting.
Eight hours later, deputies responding to another 911 call found a red truck riddled with bullet holes. Serafin "Danny" Lorenzo Jr., 53, was shot seven times. Deana Lorenzo, 51, had 11 bullet wounds.
Investigators determined the Lorenzos withdrew $3,000 in cash and drove more than two hours from their Brooksville, Florida, home to buy guns from somebody listing them for sale on a website called Armslist. The seller, “Jeremy,” told them to meet at a church in Estero. “I’m at the church,” Serafin Lorenzo wrote in his last text message.
Investigators used cellphone records and social media messages to link the suspects to the killings.
Google records showed Zwiefelhofer’s online searches included the phrase “How to Smuggle Myself to South America,” an FBI agent said in an affidavit. Zwiefelhofer also searched for video of a movie scene that depicted shooters ambushing a vehicle using the same tactics employed by the gunmen who attacked the Lozenzos’ truck, the agent said.
An unidentified “associate” of Lang’s told detectives that they had traveled to Bogota, Colombia, several months after the Florida shootings, according to the FBI agent's affidavit. Lang joined a Venezuelan resistance group that had a safe house in the mountains of Cucuta, Colombia, near the Venezuelan border, said the associate, who told investigators he left Lang in Bogota.
Zwiefelhofer was arrested in Wisconsin in May. He admitted to traveling to Florida with Lang in April 2018 but denied going to the area where the Lozenzos were killed, the FBI agent's affidavit said.
Zwiefelhofer pleaded not guilty in December to charges related to the robbery and killings and the alleged plot to fight the Venezuelan government. His trial is set for August.
Lang doesn’t have an extradition trial date. Morhun, his lawyer, said his client would appeal if the Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office approves Lang’s extradition. If that fails, Morhun said he would ask the European Court of Human Rights to review the case. He argues that Lang shouldn’t be extradited because he could face capital punishment, which Ukraine abolished two decades ago.
Lang could taste freedom in Ukraine before he sees a prison cell in the U.S. His lawyers planned to ask a court this month to reduce his house arrest to “nighttime house arrest.”
Kunzelman reported from College Park, Maryland. Karmanau reported from Minsk, Belarus. Associated Press reporters Lolita Baldor in Washington and Jonathan Drew in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
This article was written by MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and YURAS KARMANAU from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].
Read more: These Are the Special Military Pay and Allowances for Coronavirus
Related Topics
Military Headlines Army Crime
© Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
https://www.military.com/daily-news...or-sentenced-71-years-bank-robbery-spree.html
Former Navy Sailor Sentenced to 71 Years for Bank Robbery Spree
Source: Getty Images
6 Feb 2020
The Philadelphia Inquirer | By Jeremy Roebuck
John Dillinger robbed 24 banks before he died in a firefight with federal agents in 1934. Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd hit as many as 30, while Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow stuck up 15.
Richard Boyle's nine-year crime spree across the Philadelphia suburbs may not have earned him their level of criminal infamy. But in sheer numbers, he racked up a record to rank among them all.
Boyle -- a mild-mannered father of four from Bucks County dubbed "The Straw Hat Bandit" for the distinctive disguises he donned during his crimes -- was sentenced Wednesday to 71 years in prison after robbing an eye-opening 19 banks between 2007 and 2016.
But his is not the story of a wayward soul with desperado dreams and the flashy spending habits to match. Despite stealing more than half a million dollars over the course of nearly a decade, Boyle used his ill-gotten gains mostly to pay his bills.
More than $7,500 for a seven-year-old used Nissan Sentra. Some $15,000 in rent. Nearly $40,000 to pay off debts to his dentist. And more than $5,000 to cover tuition at Temple University for his daughter.
Boyle, 60, said little when granted the opportunity to explain his crimes in court. After insisting on firing his lawyer and representing himself, he politely declined to offer a defense. Facing a 68-year mandatory minimum sentence, he respectfully maintained his innocence.
But U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter wasn't buying his unassuming affect Wednesday, calling him "a bit obdurate," and dismissed the notion he was driven to crime by financial distress.
"You are no Jean Valjean, sir," she said, referring to the Les Miserables protagonist who was sentenced to 19 years of hard labor for stealing bread to feed his family. "You had enough skills that you did not have to steal to make money."
Unlike the notorious American bank robbers prosecutors compared him to, Boyle's origins in the business are remarkable only for their extraordinary ordinariness.
Raised in Arizona and South Florida by an abusive father, he ran away and joined the Navy in 1977, found work as a surgical assistant after he was discharged, and eventually settled into a middle-class life with his wife and children in Plumstead Township.
But work was slow and money routinely tight. The family fell behind on rent payments and bills kept piling up.
Deep into his 40s, Boyle read a story about a bank heist in a local newspaper and thought he could do it better, his former lawyer Craig Penglase recalled. So, Boyle put on a loud Hawaiian-print shirt and a big straw hat and put his outlandish plan into action.
"This was the kind of guy you don't forget," Penglase, who represented him in an earlier state case, told The Inquirer at the time of Boyle's 2017 arrest. "It struck me before that he was just embarrassed that he couldn't afford to support his family."
Over two years, Boyle managed to steal $102,000 from eight banks in Bucks, Montgomery, Northampton, and Lehigh Counties without ever brandishing a weapon.
"I remember the tellers saying he was overly polite," Penglase said. "His demand notes said 'please' and 'thank you.' One of the tellers said that had it not been her bank's policy just to turn the money over to would-be robbers, she might not have. She thought he might just have walked away."
Though Boyle was caught in 2008 and served 3 1/2 years in state prison, he picked up his old habits again within a year of his release.
The reasons for Boyle's robberies hadn't changed, but his methods certainly had.
This time -- starting with the May 2012 robbery of a Colonial American Bank Branch in Horsham -- he developed a distinctive signature that would eventually lead FBI investigators to his door.
Covering his face with a makeshift sackcloth mask and donning his distinctive hat, Boyle terrorized bank employees at gunpoint demanding they open their cash drawers and vaults. He targeted banks near holidays and weekends when he knew there would be more cash on hand.
In some of his 11 new crimes, he spread bleach on the floor to cover his DNA. And he routinely placed hoax 911 calls to keep local police distracted before his robberies.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Livermore said Wednesday that while those decoy emergency calls often slowed down responding police, they also caused collateral damage.
Before robbing First Federal Bank in Wrightstown in September 2012, Boyle called in a bomb threat to nearby St. Mary Medical Center, prompting hospital staff to evacuate ill and injured patients and the Federal Aviation Administration to clear the airspace overhead.
His report of an active shooter at Temple's Ambler campus before another robbery the next year drew more than 20 assault-rifle-toting officers from six different departments, sent students fleeing across the quad, and culminated with police pointing weapons at a maintenance worker, who they believed could be a suspect, as he cowered in fear in a shed.
"There are bank robberies, and there is what Mr. Boyle did," Livermore said. "When you consider the victims inside the bank [and] outside the bank, the damage that he did, he's more than earned that ... sentence."
This time, too, Boyle grew increasingly willing to spend his cash on luxuries. Although he started out as before paying off credit cards, rent, dental bills, and other mundane debts, he splurged over time on things such as a $4,300 Rolex watch and a monthlong vacation he took with his son to the Florida Keys.
But as U.S. Marshals led him away at the conclusion of Wednesday's hearing, he exuded none of the brio of a high-rolling Dillinger, a "Pretty Boy," a Bonnie or a Clyde.
Slump-shouldered and sighing, Boyle deferentially trudged off to spend the rest of his life in prison.
This article is written by Jeremy Roebuck from The Philadelphia Inquirer and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].
Related Topics
Military Headlines US Navy Topics Crime
© Copyright 2020 The Philadelphia Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your...-korean-police-during-curfew-suspension-test/
Soldier arrested after run-in with Korean police during curfew suspension test
Kyle Rempfer
July 24, 2019
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-mco.s3.amazonaws.com/public/NHZRFAWCSJGXPJ7HMLRRUVKGR4.jpg)
The soldier was out drinking when he allegedly assaulted a taxi driver and tried to steal the cab before hitting a Korean police officer, according to news reports.
A U.S. soldier assigned to South Korea is under investigation after allegedly attempting to steal a taxi and striking a Korean National Police officer over the weekend.
The incident comes about a month after U.S. Forces Korea lifted its long-standing curfew for troops on the Korean Peninsula and has the attention of Army Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of all forces there.
“We are aware of the incident involving a U.S. soldier and KNP in Itaewon over the weekend and are cooperating fully with all legal authorities,” Lt. Col. Martyn Crighton, a 2nd Infantry Division public affairs officer, told Army Times. “We take this matter very seriously. We are committed to ensuring our soldiers obey Korean laws, U.S. military regulations and remain good neighbors with the Korean community.”
The suspension of the curfew on the peninsula was intended to serve as a 90-day evaluation period ending Sept. 17 to assess whether the curfew can be lifted permanently.
Incidents like this jeopardize that possibility.
“The incident remains under investigation and the soldier is in U.S. custody," Crighton added. “We will not be releasing any information at this time to protect the integrity of the investigation.”
The soldier is not currently jailed and is in the custody of his unit’s leadership, according to Crighton. Charges have not been brought against the soldier, but an investigation is ongoing between U.S. and South Korean officials, he said.
US Forces Korea is lifting its curfew for 90 days to see if troops can behave
Behavior, morale and readiness factors will be assessed at the end of the 90-day period.
Kyle Rempfer
Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup
Don't miss the top Army stories, delivered each afternoon
The soldier was reportedly out drinking with friends when he assaulted a taxi driver and attempted to steal the cab before hitting a KNP officer and getting tased, according to a message posted Sunday by U.S. Army WTF Moments.
Crighton would not comment on those details. The Korean Broadcasting Service reported that the U.S. soldier was arrested on suspicion of assault and property damage, but was handed over to the Americans in accordance with U.S.-South Korea Status of Forces Agreement.
Abrams retweeted U.S. Army WTF Moments’ warning after the event and added that soldiers should be watching their battle buddies during nights out.
Itaewon is a popular commercial district for U.S. troops stationed at Yongsan Garrison, which is in the process of closing and moving personnel to Camp Humphreys.
The message says the soldier now faces charges of assault, robbery, DUI and underage drinking, but Crighton confirmed no charges have been brought against him at this time. The message also notes that incidents like this threaten the permanent end of the curfew.
Part of the reason for testing a curfew lift is to increase the quality of life for troops stationed in South Korea.
“South Korea is an assignment of choice with countless regional and cultural opportunities for assigned personnel. The intent of the curfew suspension is to provide [U.S. Forces-Korea] personnel greater access to all Korea has to offer,” Col. Jonathan Doyle, U.S. Forces-Korea provost marshal, said in a statement accompanying the curfew suspension last month.
At the end of the 90-day evaluation period, Abrams is supposed to determine whether to continue the curfew suspension evaluation period, maintain or rescind the off-installation curfew based on behavior, morale and readiness factors.
Normally, the curfew lasts from 1-5 a.m. and requires troops to remain on base, in their residences or hotel rooms during those hours, according to the General Order Regarding Off-Installation Curfew posted to the command’s website.
The curfew is sometimes referred to as a “readiness call," as its restrictions are often framed as a way to ensure troops are able to conduct their duties on the peninsula each day.
https://www.stripes.com/news/pacifi...om-currency-exchange-shop-on-okinawa-1.629972
US soldier, civilian base worker suspected of robbing $65,000 from currency exchange shop on Okinawa
Police say two mask-wearing perpetrators robbed this currency exchange store across from Camp Foster, Okinawa, Tuesday, May 12, 2020.
AYA ICHIHASHI/STARS AND STRIPES
By MATTHEW M. BURKE AND AYA ICHIHASHI | STARS AND STRIPES Published: May 15, 2020
https://www.military.com/daily-news...bbing-65k-currency-exchange-shop-okinawa.html
US Service Member, Civilian Base Worker Suspected of Robbing $65K From Currency Exchange Shop on Okinawa
This Aug. 2018, file aerial photo shows preliminary construction work off Henoko, in Nago city, Okinawa prefecture, Japan, where the Japanese government plans to relocate a U.S. air base from one area of Okinawa's main island to another. (Koji Harada/Kyodo News via AP)
16 May 2020
Stars and Stripes | By Matthew M. Burke and Aya Ichihashi
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa -- Two people who live and work at Kadena Air Base are suspected of making off with nearly $65,000 in the armed robbery of a currency exchange shop on Okinawa.
The business, which isn't far from Camp Foster's front gate, was robbed by two masking-wearing perpetrators at approximately 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to an Okinawa Police spokesman who spoke on a customary condition of anonymity.
One or both the suspects went behind the shop's counter while one or both brandished a knife-like object, threatened an employee and demanded money, the spokesman said. The spokesman declined to provide further details on which suspect did what during the robbery.
Kadena's 18th Wing said in a statement Friday evening that "a civilian and an Army soldier" are being looked at as suspects in the "ongoing investigation, which is being led by Okinawa Police Station."
On Friday afternoon, local media photographed a uniformed U.S. soldier being escorted into the police station by U.S. military police.
Okinawa Police later said no arrests had been made in the case but declined to comment further.
"The U.S. military on Okinawa works closely with local police on a daily basis and will continue to cooperate in this matter," the 18th Wing statement said. "We take these matters very seriously and will ensure members are held accountable if they are found to be involved in criminal activities."
Those convicted of robbery with threat or assault face between five years and 20 years imprisonment under Japanese criminal law, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
This article is written by Matthew M. Burke and Aya Ichihashi from Stars and Stripes and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].
Related Topics
Military Headlines Crime Japan Kadena Air Base
© Copyright 2020 Stars and Stripes. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Two people who live and work at Kadena Air Base are suspected of making off with nearly $65,000 in the armed robbery of a currency exchange shop on Okinawa.
The business, which isn’t far from Camp Foster’s front gate, was robbed by two mask-wearing perpetrators about 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to an Okinawa Police spokesman who spoke on a customary condition of anonymity.
One or both of the suspects went behind the shop’s counter while brandishing a knife-like object, threatened an employee and demanded money, the spokesman said. They ran out with $64,700 in Japanese and U.S. currency. No one was injured.
Police say two mask-wearing perpetrators robbed a currency exchange store across from Camp Foster, Okinawa, Tuesday, May 12, 2020.
AYA ICHIHASHI/STARS AND STRIPES
Kadena’s 18th Wing said in a statement Friday evening that “a civilian and an Army soldier” are being looked at as suspects in the “ongoing investigation, which is being led by Okinawa Police Station.”
On Friday afternoon, local media photographed a uniformed U.S. soldier being escorted into the police station by U.S. military police.
Okinawa Police later said no arrests had been made in the case but declined to comment further.
“The U.S. military on Okinawa works closely with local police on a daily basis and will continue to cooperate in this matter,” the 18th Wing statement said. “We take these matters very seriously and will ensure members are held accountable if they are found to be involved in criminal activities.”
Those convicted of robbery with threat or assault face between five years and 20 years imprisonment under Japanese criminal law, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
[email protected]
Twitter: @MatthewMBurke1
[email protected]
Twitter: @AyaIchihashi
FBI: Soldiers Set Up Deadly Robbery to Fund Foreign Fighting
This undated booking photo from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office shows Alex Zwiefelhofer. Zwiefelhofer is a co-defendant in the April 2018 killings of a Florida couple. Federal authorities believe Zwiefelhofer and fellow Army veteran Craig Lang robbed and gunned down the couple, Serafin and Deana Lorenzo, to finance a Venezuela trip. (Pinellas County Sheriff's Office via AP)
27 Mar 2020
The Associated Press | By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and YURAS KARMANAU
The two former U.S. Army soldiers met in Ukraine, where they joined the same far-right paramilitary group. After getting deported, they planned to take a boat from Miami to South America. They wanted to fight the socialist Venezuelan government and kill “communists.”
That’s what Alex Zwiefelhofer told the FBI agent and police detectives who questioned him about the fatal shooting of a Florida couple in April 2018. Federal authorities believe Zwiefelhofer and fellow Army veteran Craig Lang arranged the deadly robbery of Serafin and Deana Lorenzo to finance the Venezuela trip.
Nearly two years after the killings, Zwiefelhofer, 22, is awaiting trial in Fort Myers, Florida, on federal charges punishable by a death sentence, while Lang, 29, faces the same charges as he fights his extradition from Ukraine, where he married a woman last year and is now under house arrest. One of his attorneys has said it could take years for the extradition case to be resolved.
In the U.S., authorities portray Lang and Zwiefelhofer as cold-blooded killers. In Ukraine, a defense lawyer blames the U.S. government for not doing more to help Lang and other veterans adapt to life off the battlefield.
“The man was just searching for a spot on the world map to catch a bullet and die,” Lang's attorney, Dmytro Morhun, told The Associated Press. “But he has found a new life, a new love, a new family” in Ukraine, Morhun said.
Lang, a North Carolina native, was discharged from the Army in 2014. Zwiefelhofer, a Wisconsin native, was discharged in 2018 after going absent without leave in September 2016.
The two met in Ukraine in 2016. Zwiefelhofer told authorities that he and Lang joined Right Sector, an ultranationalist group fighting Russia-backed separatists. Right-wing volunteer battalions played a key role in the separatist conflict that erupted in 2014 in eastern Ukraine after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
The fighting attracted thousands of volunteers from the U.S. and Europe. Some foreign combatants were driven by white supremacist ideology, but soldiers who served with Lang in Ukraine said they never heard him express any racist or extremist views.
A woman who fought alongside Lang in Ukraine described him as “calm and reasonable” but said he had personal problems connected to a divorce and child custody battle. “He went to fight in Ukraine because he had no other place to go,” said the woman, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Elena, for security reasons.
In 2017, Zwiefelhofer and Lang traveled to Africa but were detained by Kenyan authorities when they tried to enter South Sudan. They eventually were deported to the U.S.
Brian Boyenger, a veteran of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, said he spent a few months with Lang on the front lines in Ukraine.
“He conducted himself as a disciplined and professional soldier,” Boyenger wrote in a Facebook message. “The things he is accused of were a surprise to me.”
On the night of April 9, 2018, the sheriff’s office in Lee County, Florida, received 911 calls reporting gunfire in the community of Estero. Deputies searched the area but didn’t find any sign of a shooting.
Eight hours later, deputies responding to another 911 call found a red truck riddled with bullet holes. Serafin "Danny" Lorenzo Jr., 53, was shot seven times. Deana Lorenzo, 51, had 11 bullet wounds.
Investigators determined the Lorenzos withdrew $3,000 in cash and drove more than two hours from their Brooksville, Florida, home to buy guns from somebody listing them for sale on a website called Armslist. The seller, “Jeremy,” told them to meet at a church in Estero. “I’m at the church,” Serafin Lorenzo wrote in his last text message.
Investigators used cellphone records and social media messages to link the suspects to the killings.
Google records showed Zwiefelhofer’s online searches included the phrase “How to Smuggle Myself to South America,” an FBI agent said in an affidavit. Zwiefelhofer also searched for video of a movie scene that depicted shooters ambushing a vehicle using the same tactics employed by the gunmen who attacked the Lozenzos’ truck, the agent said.
An unidentified “associate” of Lang’s told detectives that they had traveled to Bogota, Colombia, several months after the Florida shootings, according to the FBI agent's affidavit. Lang joined a Venezuelan resistance group that had a safe house in the mountains of Cucuta, Colombia, near the Venezuelan border, said the associate, who told investigators he left Lang in Bogota.
Zwiefelhofer was arrested in Wisconsin in May. He admitted to traveling to Florida with Lang in April 2018 but denied going to the area where the Lozenzos were killed, the FBI agent's affidavit said.
Zwiefelhofer pleaded not guilty in December to charges related to the robbery and killings and the alleged plot to fight the Venezuelan government. His trial is set for August.
Lang doesn’t have an extradition trial date. Morhun, his lawyer, said his client would appeal if the Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office approves Lang’s extradition. If that fails, Morhun said he would ask the European Court of Human Rights to review the case. He argues that Lang shouldn’t be extradited because he could face capital punishment, which Ukraine abolished two decades ago.
Lang could taste freedom in Ukraine before he sees a prison cell in the U.S. His lawyers planned to ask a court this month to reduce his house arrest to “nighttime house arrest.”
Kunzelman reported from College Park, Maryland. Karmanau reported from Minsk, Belarus. Associated Press reporters Lolita Baldor in Washington and Jonathan Drew in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
This article was written by MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and YURAS KARMANAU from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].
Read more: These Are the Special Military Pay and Allowances for Coronavirus
Related Topics
Military Headlines Army Crime
© Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
https://www.military.com/daily-news...or-sentenced-71-years-bank-robbery-spree.html
Former Navy Sailor Sentenced to 71 Years for Bank Robbery Spree
Source: Getty Images
6 Feb 2020
The Philadelphia Inquirer | By Jeremy Roebuck
John Dillinger robbed 24 banks before he died in a firefight with federal agents in 1934. Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd hit as many as 30, while Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow stuck up 15.
Richard Boyle's nine-year crime spree across the Philadelphia suburbs may not have earned him their level of criminal infamy. But in sheer numbers, he racked up a record to rank among them all.
Boyle -- a mild-mannered father of four from Bucks County dubbed "The Straw Hat Bandit" for the distinctive disguises he donned during his crimes -- was sentenced Wednesday to 71 years in prison after robbing an eye-opening 19 banks between 2007 and 2016.
But his is not the story of a wayward soul with desperado dreams and the flashy spending habits to match. Despite stealing more than half a million dollars over the course of nearly a decade, Boyle used his ill-gotten gains mostly to pay his bills.
More than $7,500 for a seven-year-old used Nissan Sentra. Some $15,000 in rent. Nearly $40,000 to pay off debts to his dentist. And more than $5,000 to cover tuition at Temple University for his daughter.
Boyle, 60, said little when granted the opportunity to explain his crimes in court. After insisting on firing his lawyer and representing himself, he politely declined to offer a defense. Facing a 68-year mandatory minimum sentence, he respectfully maintained his innocence.
But U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter wasn't buying his unassuming affect Wednesday, calling him "a bit obdurate," and dismissed the notion he was driven to crime by financial distress.
"You are no Jean Valjean, sir," she said, referring to the Les Miserables protagonist who was sentenced to 19 years of hard labor for stealing bread to feed his family. "You had enough skills that you did not have to steal to make money."
Unlike the notorious American bank robbers prosecutors compared him to, Boyle's origins in the business are remarkable only for their extraordinary ordinariness.
Raised in Arizona and South Florida by an abusive father, he ran away and joined the Navy in 1977, found work as a surgical assistant after he was discharged, and eventually settled into a middle-class life with his wife and children in Plumstead Township.
But work was slow and money routinely tight. The family fell behind on rent payments and bills kept piling up.
Deep into his 40s, Boyle read a story about a bank heist in a local newspaper and thought he could do it better, his former lawyer Craig Penglase recalled. So, Boyle put on a loud Hawaiian-print shirt and a big straw hat and put his outlandish plan into action.
"This was the kind of guy you don't forget," Penglase, who represented him in an earlier state case, told The Inquirer at the time of Boyle's 2017 arrest. "It struck me before that he was just embarrassed that he couldn't afford to support his family."
Over two years, Boyle managed to steal $102,000 from eight banks in Bucks, Montgomery, Northampton, and Lehigh Counties without ever brandishing a weapon.
"I remember the tellers saying he was overly polite," Penglase said. "His demand notes said 'please' and 'thank you.' One of the tellers said that had it not been her bank's policy just to turn the money over to would-be robbers, she might not have. She thought he might just have walked away."
Though Boyle was caught in 2008 and served 3 1/2 years in state prison, he picked up his old habits again within a year of his release.
The reasons for Boyle's robberies hadn't changed, but his methods certainly had.
This time -- starting with the May 2012 robbery of a Colonial American Bank Branch in Horsham -- he developed a distinctive signature that would eventually lead FBI investigators to his door.
Covering his face with a makeshift sackcloth mask and donning his distinctive hat, Boyle terrorized bank employees at gunpoint demanding they open their cash drawers and vaults. He targeted banks near holidays and weekends when he knew there would be more cash on hand.
In some of his 11 new crimes, he spread bleach on the floor to cover his DNA. And he routinely placed hoax 911 calls to keep local police distracted before his robberies.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Livermore said Wednesday that while those decoy emergency calls often slowed down responding police, they also caused collateral damage.
Before robbing First Federal Bank in Wrightstown in September 2012, Boyle called in a bomb threat to nearby St. Mary Medical Center, prompting hospital staff to evacuate ill and injured patients and the Federal Aviation Administration to clear the airspace overhead.
His report of an active shooter at Temple's Ambler campus before another robbery the next year drew more than 20 assault-rifle-toting officers from six different departments, sent students fleeing across the quad, and culminated with police pointing weapons at a maintenance worker, who they believed could be a suspect, as he cowered in fear in a shed.
"There are bank robberies, and there is what Mr. Boyle did," Livermore said. "When you consider the victims inside the bank [and] outside the bank, the damage that he did, he's more than earned that ... sentence."
This time, too, Boyle grew increasingly willing to spend his cash on luxuries. Although he started out as before paying off credit cards, rent, dental bills, and other mundane debts, he splurged over time on things such as a $4,300 Rolex watch and a monthlong vacation he took with his son to the Florida Keys.
But as U.S. Marshals led him away at the conclusion of Wednesday's hearing, he exuded none of the brio of a high-rolling Dillinger, a "Pretty Boy," a Bonnie or a Clyde.
Slump-shouldered and sighing, Boyle deferentially trudged off to spend the rest of his life in prison.
This article is written by Jeremy Roebuck from The Philadelphia Inquirer and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].
Related Topics
Military Headlines US Navy Topics Crime
© Copyright 2020 The Philadelphia Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your...-korean-police-during-curfew-suspension-test/
Soldier arrested after run-in with Korean police during curfew suspension test
Kyle Rempfer
July 24, 2019
A U.S. soldier assigned to South Korea is under investigation after allegedly attempting to steal a taxi and striking a Korean National Police officer over the weekend.
The incident comes about a month after U.S. Forces Korea lifted its long-standing curfew for troops on the Korean Peninsula and has the attention of Army Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of all forces there.
“We are aware of the incident involving a U.S. soldier and KNP in Itaewon over the weekend and are cooperating fully with all legal authorities,” Lt. Col. Martyn Crighton, a 2nd Infantry Division public affairs officer, told Army Times. “We take this matter very seriously. We are committed to ensuring our soldiers obey Korean laws, U.S. military regulations and remain good neighbors with the Korean community.”
The suspension of the curfew on the peninsula was intended to serve as a 90-day evaluation period ending Sept. 17 to assess whether the curfew can be lifted permanently.
Incidents like this jeopardize that possibility.
“The incident remains under investigation and the soldier is in U.S. custody," Crighton added. “We will not be releasing any information at this time to protect the integrity of the investigation.”
The soldier is not currently jailed and is in the custody of his unit’s leadership, according to Crighton. Charges have not been brought against the soldier, but an investigation is ongoing between U.S. and South Korean officials, he said.
US Forces Korea is lifting its curfew for 90 days to see if troops can behave
Behavior, morale and readiness factors will be assessed at the end of the 90-day period.
Kyle Rempfer
Sign up for the Army Times Daily News Roundup
Don't miss the top Army stories, delivered each afternoon
The soldier was reportedly out drinking with friends when he assaulted a taxi driver and attempted to steal the cab before hitting a KNP officer and getting tased, according to a message posted Sunday by U.S. Army WTF Moments.
Crighton would not comment on those details. The Korean Broadcasting Service reported that the U.S. soldier was arrested on suspicion of assault and property damage, but was handed over to the Americans in accordance with U.S.-South Korea Status of Forces Agreement.
Abrams retweeted U.S. Army WTF Moments’ warning after the event and added that soldiers should be watching their battle buddies during nights out.
Itaewon is a popular commercial district for U.S. troops stationed at Yongsan Garrison, which is in the process of closing and moving personnel to Camp Humphreys.
The message says the soldier now faces charges of assault, robbery, DUI and underage drinking, but Crighton confirmed no charges have been brought against him at this time. The message also notes that incidents like this threaten the permanent end of the curfew.
Part of the reason for testing a curfew lift is to increase the quality of life for troops stationed in South Korea.
“South Korea is an assignment of choice with countless regional and cultural opportunities for assigned personnel. The intent of the curfew suspension is to provide [U.S. Forces-Korea] personnel greater access to all Korea has to offer,” Col. Jonathan Doyle, U.S. Forces-Korea provost marshal, said in a statement accompanying the curfew suspension last month.
At the end of the 90-day evaluation period, Abrams is supposed to determine whether to continue the curfew suspension evaluation period, maintain or rescind the off-installation curfew based on behavior, morale and readiness factors.
Normally, the curfew lasts from 1-5 a.m. and requires troops to remain on base, in their residences or hotel rooms during those hours, according to the General Order Regarding Off-Installation Curfew posted to the command’s website.
The curfew is sometimes referred to as a “readiness call," as its restrictions are often framed as a way to ensure troops are able to conduct their duties on the peninsula each day.
https://www.stripes.com/news/pacifi...om-currency-exchange-shop-on-okinawa-1.629972
US soldier, civilian base worker suspected of robbing $65,000 from currency exchange shop on Okinawa
Police say two mask-wearing perpetrators robbed this currency exchange store across from Camp Foster, Okinawa, Tuesday, May 12, 2020.
AYA ICHIHASHI/STARS AND STRIPES
By MATTHEW M. BURKE AND AYA ICHIHASHI | STARS AND STRIPES Published: May 15, 2020
https://www.military.com/daily-news...bbing-65k-currency-exchange-shop-okinawa.html
US Service Member, Civilian Base Worker Suspected of Robbing $65K From Currency Exchange Shop on Okinawa
This Aug. 2018, file aerial photo shows preliminary construction work off Henoko, in Nago city, Okinawa prefecture, Japan, where the Japanese government plans to relocate a U.S. air base from one area of Okinawa's main island to another. (Koji Harada/Kyodo News via AP)
16 May 2020
Stars and Stripes | By Matthew M. Burke and Aya Ichihashi
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa -- Two people who live and work at Kadena Air Base are suspected of making off with nearly $65,000 in the armed robbery of a currency exchange shop on Okinawa.
The business, which isn't far from Camp Foster's front gate, was robbed by two masking-wearing perpetrators at approximately 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to an Okinawa Police spokesman who spoke on a customary condition of anonymity.
One or both the suspects went behind the shop's counter while one or both brandished a knife-like object, threatened an employee and demanded money, the spokesman said. The spokesman declined to provide further details on which suspect did what during the robbery.
Kadena's 18th Wing said in a statement Friday evening that "a civilian and an Army soldier" are being looked at as suspects in the "ongoing investigation, which is being led by Okinawa Police Station."
On Friday afternoon, local media photographed a uniformed U.S. soldier being escorted into the police station by U.S. military police.
Okinawa Police later said no arrests had been made in the case but declined to comment further.
"The U.S. military on Okinawa works closely with local police on a daily basis and will continue to cooperate in this matter," the 18th Wing statement said. "We take these matters very seriously and will ensure members are held accountable if they are found to be involved in criminal activities."
Those convicted of robbery with threat or assault face between five years and 20 years imprisonment under Japanese criminal law, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
This article is written by Matthew M. Burke and Aya Ichihashi from Stars and Stripes and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].
Related Topics
Military Headlines Crime Japan Kadena Air Base
© Copyright 2020 Stars and Stripes. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Two people who live and work at Kadena Air Base are suspected of making off with nearly $65,000 in the armed robbery of a currency exchange shop on Okinawa.
The business, which isn’t far from Camp Foster’s front gate, was robbed by two mask-wearing perpetrators about 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to an Okinawa Police spokesman who spoke on a customary condition of anonymity.
One or both of the suspects went behind the shop’s counter while brandishing a knife-like object, threatened an employee and demanded money, the spokesman said. They ran out with $64,700 in Japanese and U.S. currency. No one was injured.
Police say two mask-wearing perpetrators robbed a currency exchange store across from Camp Foster, Okinawa, Tuesday, May 12, 2020.
AYA ICHIHASHI/STARS AND STRIPES
Kadena’s 18th Wing said in a statement Friday evening that “a civilian and an Army soldier” are being looked at as suspects in the “ongoing investigation, which is being led by Okinawa Police Station.”
On Friday afternoon, local media photographed a uniformed U.S. soldier being escorted into the police station by U.S. military police.
Okinawa Police later said no arrests had been made in the case but declined to comment further.
“The U.S. military on Okinawa works closely with local police on a daily basis and will continue to cooperate in this matter,” the 18th Wing statement said. “We take these matters very seriously and will ensure members are held accountable if they are found to be involved in criminal activities.”
Those convicted of robbery with threat or assault face between five years and 20 years imprisonment under Japanese criminal law, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
[email protected]
Twitter: @MatthewMBurke1
[email protected]
Twitter: @AyaIchihashi
