Elderly thief has a heartbreaking reason for his attempted $650 bank robbery

By Kelly Rissman

On August 29, 2023

The FBI charged a 67-year-old man in Miami after he attempted to rob a bank—all because he needed rent money.

Michael Noojin was wearing a yellow polo shirt “with sail boats and birds printed all over,” white shoes, jeans and sunglasses when he entered a Bank of America on 24 August, according to the criminal complaint.

When Mr Noojin approached the teller, who asked him for his debit card, he allegedly replied, “I have a gun, put all the money in the bag.” He pushed a brown shopping bag under the protective glass toward the teller, the complaint states.

Although the teller did not see a weapon, she locked her money drawer; the two other tellers beside her did the same, and one of them activated the emergency alarm, the complaint said.

The three tellers started walking away from the counter. The 67-year-old then grabbed the bag and ran out of the bank.

Security footage captured the entire incident and was given to news outlets; one person recognised Mr Noojin from the video and gave police the address of the halfway house in Hallandale Beach where he was reportedly living.

That evening, law enforcement met with Mr Noojin at the halfway house, where he confessed to trying to rob the Bank of America. He told the FBI his motive: he was “in desperate need” of rent money. According to the complaint, he said that “it was the last chance for him to obtain $650.00 before he would be homeless.”

Mr Noojin was charged with “knowingly, by means of intimidation, attempting to take from the person and presence of an employee of a federally insured bank,” which could result in a fine or imprisonment for no more than twenty years—or both—according to the Legal Information Institute.

This piece was republished from the Independent.