I always used to wonder about the Riddler. If he was such a criminal mastermind, why did he always give Commissioner Gordon or Batman and Robin clues to catch him. Wouldn’t he have been more successful if he just tried to pull off his capers quietly? But I recently read that the Riddler actually suffers from OCD, and has an irresistable compulsion to tell the authorities when he commits a crime.
Maybe Mark P. Miller, 39, has a similar problem. I’m serious. He’s successfully robbed three banks, but each time has turned himself in. Why? Read on. From the Middletown Press:
The suspect in Tuesday’s bank robbery is in custody, Police Chief Anthony J. Salvatore said — in Atlantic City. His luck, it seems, ran out.
The end came just over 41 hours after a man strolled into a branch bank on Willowbrook Road Tuesday afternoon and handed a teller a note demanding money.
Thursday’s episode was similar, but slightly different: Salvatore said: “At approximately 7:30 (Thursday) morning, Mark P. Miller, 39, of 184 Burgundy Hill Lane, Middletown, walked into Atlantic City police headquarters and turned himself in, stating that he had robbed a bank in Cromwell, Conn., and that he gambled all the money away.”
Their accommodations may not be as deluxe as those of the best Atlantic City hotels; but Atlantic City police did make room for Miller in one of their cells. And then they contacted their colleagues in Cromwell with the news that the hunt for the daring — or desperate — bandit was over.
Police in the seaside gambling mecca said Thursday night Miller is being held in lieu of $100,000 bond as a fugitive from justice.
It turns out this was not the first time — or even the second time — Miller has robbed a bank, Salvatore acknowledged.
In fact, the chief said, Miller had only recently been released from jail after serving a short sentence for robbing the Liberty Bank branch on Washington Street in Middletown last June. The car salesman was also convicted for robbing a Wachovia branch bank in Meriden the same month.
Eerily, the same scenario played out last year; just as he did Thursday, Miller walked into a police headquarters and confessed to his role in the robberies. In that case, it was Middletown police headquarters.
And, again, just as he did Thursday, Miller said then he had robbed the banks in Middletown and Meriden because of a gambling problem.
The Middletown Press – Middletown man turns self in after gambling away gains from robbery
Of course there are some wags out there who would say that anyone who would ride a bus from Hartford to Atlantic City must have some gambling problem, but this is serious. It seems like the guy doesn’t really want to rob banks, but he has a compulsion to do so.
I wonder how long it took him to gamble away the $5000?