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A North Carolina man desperate for health insurance robbed a bank of $1 so he could get locked up for medical reasons.
59-year old James Verone is down on his luck. He has a growth of some kind on his chest, an injured foot, two ruptured discs, carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis. Without a job or health insurance the only idea he could come up with was to rob RBC Bank in Gaston, NC hoping to get a three year sentence so his ailments could get treated.
Verone entered the bank unarmed on Thursday (June 9) and handed a teller a note with his demand.
"The note said 'this is a bank robbery, please only give me one dollar,'" Verone explained while sitting in Gaston County jail charged with felony larceny. "This is the first time I've ever been in trouble with the law. I'm sort of a logical person and that was my logic. (That was) what I came up with."
Before leaving his house by cab to commit the robbery, Verone sent a letter to the Gaston Gazette listing the county jail as the return address.
“When you receive this a bank robbery will have been committed by me. This robbery is being committed by me for one dollar,” he wrote. “I am of sound mind but not so much sound body."
Verone is currently in jail on $2000 bond.
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