75-year-old Ohio Woman Sentenced to Four Years for Credit Union Branch Robbery

Shackled and wearing an orange jump suit during a sentencing hearing on Tuesday in a county courtroom, 75-year-old Ann Mayers turned to face her victims of the $192 million AurGroup Financial Credit Union of Fairfield, Ohio.

“I would like to apologize to Aurgroup if they’re here today, and to my sister,” Mayers said in a video of the court proceeding posted by Dayton 24/7 NOW News.

Butler County Common Pleas Court Daniel E. Haughey in Hamilton sentenced Mayers to the minimum four years in state prison with 180 days of jail time credit for robbing the credit union branch with a handgun. The maximum prison sentence is 17 and a half years, court filings showed.

In September, Mayers pleaded guilty to an aggravated robbery felony charge. A second felony charge, tampering with evidence, was dismissed by prosecutors.

Police of Fairfield Township, about 30 miles north of Cincinnati, reported that Mayers walked into an AurGroup Financial branch on Creekside Drive on April 19 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.

During their investigation, police discovered Mayers had financial issues.

“She was a victim of a scam from somebody claiming to be from U.S. Customs,” Mayer’s Attorney David S. Albrecht told CU Times on Wednesday. “Ms. Mayers, a family member, and a friend lost over $80,000.”

Although Mayers was living with her sister at the time of the robbery, her sister was not aware of or involved in the crime.

Police retrieved the $500 Mayers stole.

“It does make this very unusual to have someone of your age with no prior history that appears in front of the court on such a serious charge,” Judge Haughey said. “I also appreciate the mental stress that you were under that perhaps helped push you to make a decision that under normal circumstances you otherwise wouldn’t have made.”

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

Mayers told police she was a member of AurGroup Financial, but the branch she robbed was not the branch she frequented for banking.