Alleged CU Robber’s Note Demands Cash With a Political Message

The Nobel prize-winning economist and best-selling author Paul Krugman wrote: “In 21st century America everything is political.”

And that apparently is true even among bank robbery suspects.

Last Friday afternoon, 71-year-old Samuel Scott, wearing a surgical mask, allegedly handed a note to a teller at the Navy Federal Credit Union branch in Millington, Tenn., which read in part that “this is a stick up” and demanded money.

But it was the rest of the note that caught the attention of police investigators.

“Well, [the note] went into a little more depth. There were some political statements in that [note] too,” Millington Police Chief Mark Dunbar said. “He [Scott] said, ‘add another $1,400 because Biden didn’t send me my stimulus check.’ I kid you not. We were shocked when we saw that too.”

Chief Dunbar also said after he handed the note to the Navy Federal teller, Scott told her he was not carrying a weapon.

“She [the teller] managed it pretty well. She was calm, cool and collected. She handed him the money with the necessary equipment [GPS trackers] in there if he ever made it out of there,” Chief Dunbar said.

The teller also managed to alert the branch manager, who called 9-1-1, and police arrived at the scene very quickly.

“This [branch] is only about a minute from the police station, so we got there before [Scott] got out of the lobby,” he said.

Scott, holding the money bag, was arrested without incident, according to police. That was a big relief for police because while the robbery was under way, there were four members and 10 employees inside the branch, and about 15 members social distancing outside while waiting in line to get inside the branch.

Chief Dunbar said Scott seemed to be nonchalant about the ordeal and refused to give police his address, though he acknowledged he lived somewhere in the state.

When police investigators conducted a background check, they discovered Scott had a lengthy arrest record dating back to the mid-1980s on charges involving narcotics and other robberies, though it was not clear whether they involved other bank robberies.

Scott, who was charged with one felony count of robbery, is being held at the Millington city jail on a $250,000 bond. He is expected to appear at his first court hearing next week.

When police posted on their Facebook page a press release about the robbery along with Scott’s mug shot, it attracted more than 180 comments – as of Tuesday afternoon – that expressed sadness, sympathy and shock.

“We’re grateful for the swift action taken by law enforcement to make sure our members and employees were safe,” a spokesperson for the $147 billion Navy Federal in Vienna, Va., said.