78-year-old bank heist suspect: 'I didn't mean to scare you'

HARRISONVILLE, Mo. — A 78-year-old woman with two past bank robbery convictions faces new charges after authorities allege she handed a teller a note that said “I didn’t mean to scare you” during a recent Missouri heist.

Bonnie Gooch is jailed on $25,000 bond after she was charged with one count of stealing or attempting to steal from a financial institution in the holdup Wednesday in Pleasant Hill, The Kansas City Star reports. No attorney is listed for her in online court records.

She also was convicted of robbing a California bank in 1977 and one in the Kansas City suburb of Lee’s Summit in 2020. Her probation in the second heist ended in November 2021.

Court documents filed in Cass County in the latest case said the robbery note demanded “13,000 small bills,” adding “thank you sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” Surveillance video also captured her banging on the counter, asking the teller to hurry, Cass County prosecutors said.

She smelled strongly of alcohol when officers stopped her less than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away, with cash scattered on the car's floorboard, prosecutors added.

“It’s just sad,” Pleasant Hill Police Chief Tommy Wright said, adding that the suspect had no diagnosed ailments.