Utah Man Allegedly Demanded $1 During Bank Stickup, Sat In Lobby To Be Arrested So He Could Go To Prison: Cops

A 65-year-old Utah man was arrested after demanding $1 from bank tellers and then refusing to leave afterward, insisting he’d wait for police to arrive and take him away, according to authorities.

On March 6, NBC News reported, Donald Santacroce allegedly entered a Wells Fargo Bank in Salt Lake City and handed a note to the bank tellers that read: “Please pardon me for doing this, but this is a robbery. Please give me $1.00. Thank you."

The employees complied with Santacroce’s request and then asked him to leave, but he refused, officials said.

Instead, he told the employees they should call the police and he went and sat down in the bank’s lobby waiting for officers to arrive, according to NBC News.

When cops took a while to get to the bank, Santacroce sat complaining in the lobby and “made a statement to the victims that they are lucky [he] didn’t have a gun because it was taking the police so long to get there,” authorities said.

The branch manager of the bank didn’t want to take any chances and moved all of the employees into a back room for their safety and locked the doors. No one was injured during the incident, police said.

Santacroce was arrested when police arrived. He returned the $1 bill to the officers and told them he entered the bank with the intent to rob it, police said.

He also told cops he committed the bank robbery, which is a federal crime, because he “wanted to get arrested and go to federal prison,” police said.

If he got out of jail, Santacroce said he would rob another bank and ask for more money until he was sent to federal prison, according to police.

Never miss a story — sign up for the Front Page Detectives newsletter. Be on the scene the moment news breaks.

Officials said there was no clear motive for why the suspect was so adamant on getting locked up.

Santacroce was booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on March 6 on a felony robbery charge, but he was no longer in custody as of March 8, officials said.

NBC News reported that Santacroce was arrested the week before the incident by Utah Highway Patrol for a DUI investigation and careless driving, and he was found to be using a license that was suspended in Missouri.