A Texas man named Eric Dion Warren, 50, may have just discovered one of the wildest forms of non-traditional car financing you could imagine. He borrowed a BMW from a dealership to take it for a ride, then robbed a bank and attempted to use the money he’d stolen to pay for the car in cash. I’m actually in awe of the brain power it took to come up with a plan that genius.
It’s an exceptional story. Here’s a little bit of the background from Business Insider:
A Texas man who used a BMW loaned to him by a dealership to rob a bank so he could pay for it has been sentenced to 20 years in an American federal jail.
Eric Dion Warren, 50, drove away while the purchase of the black car was still being finalised on 7 June 2019.
He then entered AIM Bank in Wolfforth, Texas, approached a teller, and put a fast-food paper bag over his head to disguise himself.
Warren placed a demand note on the bank teller’s counter which read: “This is a f — — — – robbery. Play with me and die. I want $US10,000 ($12,877) in 50 and 100 dollar bills now you got 1 minute or I will kill you.”
The tellers responded by conceding to Warren’s demands, giving him a few thousand dollars in 50- and 100-dollar bills.
This man turned around, headed back to the dealership within 15 minutes of leaving, and offered to use $US3,000 ($3,863) of it as a down payment for a car. The folks at the dealership took the money and started finalising the purchase — at which point an employee got a phone call about a bank robbery nearby whose getaway vehicle looked suspiciously like the car Warren was about to buy. As one would imagine, the employee called the police.
Warren was arrested on the spot. He had a total of $US5,086 ($6,549) in cash, along with a realistic-looking pellet gun that had been used to facilitate the robbery. And while he went so far as to disguise his face, Warren left fingerprints and DNA on the demand note he gave to the teller. It was a fairly simple case.
In August of 2020, Warren pleaded guilty to bank robbery. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, the minimum for a bank robbery, this week.