Ohio Woman, 74, Uses a Handgun to Allegedly Rob Her Own Credit Union

Police investigators said a 74-year-old Ohio woman allegedly robbed a branch of the $195 million AurGroup Financial Credit Union – which she is a member of – because of financial hardship and an online scam.

Police of Fairfield Township, about 30 miles north of Cincinnati, reported that Ann Mayers walked into an AurGroup Financial branch on Creekside Drive Friday afternoon and demanded money while showing a handgun. She left the branch with about $500 and drove away in her car.

No one at the branch was physically harmed.

After police identified Mayers and her car, she was apprehended at a house in Hamilton where she lives with her sister. When police took Mayers into custody without incident, she admitted to committing the crime.

During their investigation, police discovered Mayers had financial issues and may have been a victim of an online scam.

“The family suggested that she’s been in contact with someone, an unidentified person, who they suspect has been scamming her out of money,” Fairfield Township Police Sgt. Brandon McCroskey said. “She had borrowed a lot of money from the family, according to her sister, that she lives with. She [Ann] had talked about robbing a bank leading up to this with her sister. They obviously didn’t take her seriously.”

Mayers told police her sister did not know about the robbery, according to Fairfield Township police body camera video posted by WMBF and WXIX/Gray News in Cincinnati.

Before she allegedly committed the robbery, Sgt. McCroskey noted Mayers had taken the license plate off of her car.

“So she knew what she was doing,” he said. “Unfortunately, I think that [this] was just her solution to her financial woes.”

Police retrieved the $500 Mayers allegedly stole.

Police said the weapon used during the robbery was an old, unregistered gun that has been passed down in Mayers’ family over the years.

Sgt. McCroskey said Mayers claimed to be a member of the Fairfield-based AurGroup Financial, but the branch she robbed was not the branch she frequented for banking. The credit union operates four branches.

AurGroup Financial did not respond to a CU Times request for comment by its Tuesday afternoon deadline.

Mayers, who does not have any known criminal history, was arraigned in court Monday on two felony charges of aggravated robbery with a firearm and tampering with evidence. Her bond was set at $100,000.

Mayers is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday for a probable cause hearing.

She remains incarcerated at Butler County Jail in Hamilton.