'Polite' Credit Union Robber Pleads Not Guilty
Alan Barzangy allegedly hands tellers notes demanding cash, threatening to shoot them and writing “Thank You.”
A man who is accused of robbing two credit unions left written proof that even accused criminals can at least attempt to appear polite.
Alan Barzangy, 40, of Sandy, Utah pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of credit union robbery in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City on July 22.
On July 2, Barzangy allegedly walked into the Sandy branch of the $1.4 billion Cyprus Credit Union and handed the teller a note that read, “This is a stick up! I need $12,000 on the counter now! Or I will shoot. No dye packs. No GPS. No Alarms. Don’t be a hero. — People will die! You have five seconds before I shoot. Thank You.”
After the teller handed the suspect $4,606, he allegedly grabbed the cash, walked out of the branch and left the note behind.
Later on that same day, Barzangy allegedly walked into the Sandy branch of the $13.1 billion Mountain America Credit Union and handed a teller a note, which read, “This is a hold up! I need $5,000 on the counter! No dye packs. No GPS. No alarms. You have ONE SECOND before I shoot —- Don’t be a Hero! And Thank You.”
The teller obtained $5,000 from an ATM, handed over the cash to Barzangy who allegedly took the money and walked out of the branch. Once again, he left the note with the teller, according to court documents filed by federal investigators.
Sandy police managed to lift a fingerprint from the note at the Mountain America robbery. After running the fingerprint on a database, it came back to Barzangy, according to court documents.
While police were surveilling Barzangy, who lived a short distance from the credit union branches he allegedly robbed, they saw him get into a car driven by an unidentified woman. Police pulled the car over and arrested Barzangy without incident.
Police found about $2,000 under a car seat and another $598 at his residence.
During police questioning, Barzangy admitted to committing the robberies because he needed the cash to pay back debts.
According to court documents, he researched how to rob banks on the internet and what to write on the notes.
The blog, banknotes365.com, which lists bank notes written by robbers along with their security camera photos, shows that a few other criminals also have written “thanks” in their notes. Some robbers used other polite words. For example, one robber wrote, “please put all large bills in a bag,” while another wrote, “Sorry, robbery $5,000.”’
“Note robberies are the single most popular method of robbing banks today,” the blog’s creator, Ken Habarta, explained. “Some use a one-line directive. Others are explicit in detail. Some are plain bizarre.”