A 68-year-old bank employee fired for 'stealing' TEN CENTS from a laundromat when he was a TEENAGER

Richard Eggers, 68, tried to use a cardboard dime to get a free load of laundry back in 1963 when he was 19-years-old

A sheriff caught him and charged the teen with fraud

He, like many others, has now been fired from his job at Wells Fargo from the indiscretion that took place nearly a half century ago



A man was fired from his job at a Wells Fargo bank because of a teenage stunt he pulled nearly a half-century ago.

Richard Eggers was fired because, when he was 19-years-old, he used a cardboard nickel to try and fleece a laundromat of ten cents.

Now, the 68-year-old is looking for a new job and is ready to take Wells Fargo to court over his dismissal.



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Out because of a stunt: Richard Eggers, 68, was fired from his bank job of seven years because of a failed prank when he was 19 years old and tried to get a free load of laundry

The reason why the bank had grounds to fire Mr Eggers is because the sheriff caught him back in 1963 when he was trying to use the fake coin to get a free load of laundry and charged the teen with fraud.

In compliance with a new federal law that forbids insured depository institutions, like Wells Fargo, from hiring people with criminal histories, the Des Moines branch of the company ran all of their employees fingerprints and background checks.



It was then that Mr Eggers' dirty past came back to haunt him.

'I figured my record was squeaky clean,' he told the local ABC affiliate.

Letter of the law: In compliance of a federal law that prevents insured banks from hiring people with theft or fraud arrests, Wells Fargo is issuing background checks that have resulted in thousands of firings

'It was a stupid stunt, I'm not proud of it, but I don't think that it warrants a termination almost a half a century later.'

Another story: The same thing happened in May to Yolanda Quesada, 58, from Milwaukee who shoplifted clothes from a department store as a teenager.

Mr Eggers, who worked at the bank for seven years before his dismissal, is just one of thousands who have been fired from the company under the implementation of this law.

The same thing happened in May to Yolanda Quesada , 58, from Milwaukee who shoplifted clothes from a department store as a teenager.

At the time of the conviction she paid her required $50 fine, but when her Wells Fargo Home Mortgage branch did a background check, she was fired over the incident.

'I think there's more important things in life than something that I did 40 years ago,' she told local ABC affiliate KLTV.

'I changed my life. I went to school. I went to college. I didn't graduate but I did go and try to be a good person,' she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel .

In reference to her case, a Wells Fargo representative would only say that she was not fired for her performance.

When it comes back to Mr Eggers, the company spokesman said that they have to comply with federal regulations, which were put into place in an effort to protect customers from possible fraud or identity theft.

'We don't have discretion to grant exceptions in situations like this,' Angela Kaipust told ABC.

'Once we find out someone has a criminal history of dishonesty or breach of trust we can no longer employ them.'

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ABC5 News Des Moines, IA