A Kansas man who robbed a bank last September was sentenced to six months of home confinement on Tuesday after pleading guilty, according to the Kansas City Star. The man told police that he had committed the robbery in the hopes of getting caught and going to jail to get away from his wife.
In January, Lawrence John Ripple entered a guilty plea. According to the newspaper, he claimed to the judge on Tuesday that he had heart surgery the day before the bank robbery and was consequently depressed.
Ripple had lived a law-abiding life and was happily married, his public defender testified to the court. The report stated that he has four stepchildren.
In Kansas City, Ripple gave a bank teller a note demanding money and threatening to use a gun. After receiving the $2,924 in cash, Ripple went to sit in the lobby and identified himself to the security guard as the “guy he was looking for.”
Police arrived without delay. In the affidavit, an FBI agent stated that Ripple had been fighting with his wife earlier. He claimed to have written the note in front of his wife, telling her he would “rather be in jail than at home,” according to the investigators.
