GRANDPA GANGS!

From murder to theft, these senior crooks have swapped a quiet old age for prison time

- Maisy Rae.

Retirement robber

When JL Hunter "Red" Rountree's retirement savings ran dry, he turned to a life of crime. At 86 years old, Rountree began his robbing spree, first in 1998 at the South Trust Bank in Mississippi, in an act of revenge after he had to declare bankruptcy. Years later, he revealed his technique was to walk into banks unarmed and present a manilla envelope to the youngest teller with the word "Robbery" written on it. Unable to walk well, he would then shuffle out with thousands of dollars. "Honey, I got away with a bunch of them," he later gleefully told the media. "[The secret was] being smarter than the banker, and that's not being very smart." His last thrill came in August 2003, when he was caught in a high-speed police chase after robbing a bank in Abilene, Texas. Then 91, Rountree was sentenced to 12 years in prison and died of natural causes a year later.

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