[b][size=6][blue]Pony-tailed bank robber, 10, apologizes[/blue][/size=6][/b]

By CINDI LASH
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
August 10, 2001

PITTSBURGH - After apologizing for her involvement in an attempt to rob a bank near her home, a 10-year-old girl was placed on probation for six months and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service.

The pony-tailed girl and her parents entered into a court-approved consent decree that also requires her to go to counseling and to adhere to a curfew. If she complies with those and other requirements, her criminal record will be expunged.

Her 13-year-old neighbor and co-defendant, however, must return to court next month.

The girls were charged with robbery and conspiracy July 20 after they tried to stick up a PNC Bank. Wearing towel turbans on their heads and socks pulled up to their elbows to avoid leaving fingerprints, the girls walked into the bank, passed a note to a teller saying they had a gun and demanded $2,000 in cash.

At first, the girls told bank workers that they were being forced to hold up the bank by an armed man who was waiting outside. But after tellers locked them in the bank and called police, they admitted to police that they'd planned the heist themselves to buy clothing, book bags and other merchandise they'd picked out and stashed in a nearby Value City store.

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the 13-year-old's father later said that his daughter participated in the holdup attempt because she'd heard him wishing aloud that his finances were more stable and because she wanted to help him pay for her school clothes.

The proceedings were closed and the girls' parents hustled them out of court without comment. But attorneys for both girls sought to reach agreements that would allow their records to be eventually wiped clean.

"I don't want to say a lot about it because I don't want to make a big deal about it," said Paul Boas, attorney for the younger girl. "Yes, the charges are serious and yes, she's aware. But she's only 10 years old."





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