A Kansas man who reportedly robbed a bank to escape his wife was sentenced to home confinement Tuesday.
Lawrence John Ripple, who told police he hoped to get away from his wife by landing in prison, pleaded guilty in January to robbing a Kansas City, Kansas, bank last September, The Kansas City Star reported.
U.S. District Court Judge Carlos Murguia sentenced Ripple to six months of home confinement rather than the 37 months in prison he could have gotten after his lawyer and federal prosecutors asked for leniency.
Ripple, 71, told the judge that "heart surgery had left him depressed and unlike himself," the Star noted, adding that public defender Chekasha Ramsey cited Ripple’s health issues, remorse, and unlikeliness to reoffend.
After handing the teller a note and collecting $2,924, Ripple sat down in the lobby to await his arrest, the Star reported. He reportedly wrote the note in front of his wife, telling her he'd rather be in prison than at home.
Ripple, who has been attending mandated counseling sessions with his wife, also was ordered to serve three years of supervised probation, including 50 hours of community service, and pay $227.27 to the bank to cover the costs of employees being sent home for the day and $100 to a crime victims fund.
BizPac Review called the case "one of weirdest crimes in recent memory," noting that it's uncertain whether the judge's sentence was an indication of his sense of humor and irony or if he felt sorry for the man, whose lawyer said had a stable relationship with his wife and four step-children.
Twitter users made light of the sentence.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.