A woman allegedly robbed a bank while on a test drive this week. Supposedly she did it by tricking an 83-year-old man into being her getaway driver, just to get the money to buy his car.


The robbery occurred last Friday afternoon in Manteca, California, reports the Manteca Bulletin. A 51-year-old woman, Gail Castle, had been pestering an 83-year-old man for about a month to buy his 1980s Chrysler 5th Avenue advertised at $2,200. On Friday, she asked for a test drive, and the seller declined. "She said ‘would you trust me to drive the car?'" the seller told Fox 40 News. "I said, ‘I wouldn't trust you to back it out of the driveway.'" When he took the wheel instead, Castle claimed she needed to go to the bank to get the money for the car. He agreed to drive her there.

Castle reportedly went into the busy bank and slipped a note to the teller stating "This is a robbery. Give me your money. I don't want anybody to get hurt." She left the bank minutes later with the $2,200, jumped in the car, and the two drove away. The man who declined to give his name told CBS Sacramento that he did not know Castle had just robbed the bank at that time, making him an unwitting getaway driver.


They headed home to complete the sale in no hurry whatsoever, stopping to pick up some pills, but just as the man pulled into the driveway, police swarmed their car. "I turned my left signal the other side of the cross walk here, and that's when the sirens went off. I thought, ‘what in the world is going on,'" the driver told Fox 40 News.

The man stated that while facing six police officers with drawn shotguns and assault rifles, Castle told him "don't open the door, I've got a gun." The man took his chances and got out of the car with his hands up. The cops handcuffed him, however when they asked Castle to get out with her hands up, she leaped into the driver's seat, threw the car into reverse, and attempted to escape. One of the officers told her to stop, broke the window, and then tazed her in the left breast.

While in custody in front of the house, Castle told the officer ""I'm a gypsy and I can read your mind by looking into your eyes." She also complained of a pain in her chest, and was later hospitalized to have the tazer barb removed.

Castle was charged with charged with bank robbery, elder abuse and resisting arrest.


(Hat tip to VeeArrrSix, and his Mighty Facial Follicles !)

Photo Credit: CBS Sacramento

