70yr Kansas man robbed a bank to escape his wife – court makes sure he doesn’t stop regretting being a husband

A 70-year-old Kansas man robbed a bank after fighting with his wife and got an unusual punishment. Lawrence John Ripple was given six months of home confinement instead of going to prison. The case became famous across the country because of how strange it was.

The incident happened on September 2, 2016, at the Bank of Labor in Kansas City, Kansas. Ripple walked into the bank and gave a note to the teller. The note asked for cash and said he had a gun. The teller gave him $2,924. But instead of running away, Ripple sat down in the bank lobby and waited. He told a security guard that he was the person they were looking for.

According to the NY Post, Court documents show that Ripple had been fighting with his wife before the robbery. An FBI agent said that Ripple wrote the robbery note right in front of his wife. He told her he would rather be in jail than at home. Police came quickly and arrested him without any trouble. Ripple gave the money back to the authorities later.

Depression and health problems behind the crime

Ripple said he was guilty to one count of bank robbery in January 2017. During his sentencing hearing in June 2017, he told the judge why he did it. Ripple said he had major heart surgery in 2015. The surgery made him feel depressed and not like himself. While mental health problems have been connected to shocking true crime cases, Ripple’s story is different because of how unusual it was.

His public defender told the court that Ripple had lived a good life before this happened. He had never committed a crime before. He was a good father to four stepchildren and had a stable relationship with his wife. The defender said that Ripple had been properly diagnosed since then and was taking medicine. He felt like his normal self again.

Federal prosecutors wanted to give Ripple 37 months in prison at first. But the judge decided on something different. On Tuesday, June 13, 2017, the U.S. District Judge gave Ripple six months of home confinement. He also got three years of supervised probation and had to do 50 hours of community service. Ripple had to pay the Bank of Labor $227.27 to make up for what he did.

The ironic part of the sentence was not missed by people watching. Ripple robbed a bank to get away from his home life, but ended up being sentenced to stay at home. His wife came with him to court during his plea hearing, which showed their relationship had gotten better since the incident. The case is now part of the list of bizarre court cases that have gotten public attention over the years.