The Penny Hoarders

The felony heritage of Clint Steele and his sister Bonny Steele started when they had been youngsters, thieving alter from their parents. Later as teenagers, they rummaged via their dad’s previous coin assortment thieving outdated “wheat again” pennies. They stole all types of cash in and out of circulation, but as adults, they stole lowly pennies from banking companies.

They stole a significant Brinks truck for the reason that they were on the run from thieving all pennies from 35 nearby Nashville banking companies. They hauled more than $10,000 in pennies from Nashville, Tennessee to Hilton Head, South Carolina. In Tennessee, they were not general public enemies #1 and #2, simply because they only stole the cheapest denominator cash from banking institutions, but they held an unprecedented report for stolen pennies.

Their everyday living of criminal offense in Hilton Head began promptly. When they arrived in Hilton Head, they compelled a gas station attendant at gunpoint to give them “all pennies” in transform. It became no surprise that their 1st heist in Hilton Head began on a March 30 – “National Just one Cent Working day.” But later, they acquired sloppy by building too quite a few cashiers give them pennies only in modify. In a 7 days, they had been caught by baffled police who couldn’t understand the sibling’s penny obsession, but they got out on good conduct.

It was at that stage they started robbing banking institutions in Hilton Head. However, they rapidly grew to become quick to location, mainly because they ran into the banking companies carrying masks that resembled Abraham Lincoln together with tall black hats on their heads. If that was not adequate verification Clint and Bonny’s contacting card became, “Penny for your ideas” as they held a gun at the teller’s head.

Clint and Bonny have been the butts of jokes among the Hilton Head police, this kind of as: “They like their zinc pennies but hated “coppers,” or “They make a good deal of cents (sense).” They may not have favored the law enforcement, but they hardly ever joked about the rumor they melted their copper pennies down to make copper bullets. That was a different one of their crimes considering the fact that melting copper pennies to bullion was a federal offense. It was reported they had copper fillings for their tooth. The duo later on edited their “welcome” connect with at financial institution tellers, “Penny for your views or I’ll fill ya comprehensive of copper!”

The police managed to catch them during a significant-velocity chase that covered every single road in Hilton Head. The two experimented with to escape on one particular of the bridges that connected the island to the mainland, but the cops had currently headed them off at the bridge. Clint and Bonny were being pressured out of their auto and taken to jail.

Just one month afterwards, the brother and sister were being brought to court docket. Clint spoke for Bonny when questioned how they plead – “Guilty, your honor.” Their plea failed to shock the choose. What did make him curious was why this brother and sister only stole just pennies. So, he requested them, “Why steal just pennies?”

“When we ended up little ones, we cherished gathering coins, but we specially imagined the penny brought us fantastic luck,” Bonny mentioned. “We could have stolen nickels, dimes, or quarters, but being the humble individuals were being are, the penny was as high a forex as we needed to go. Copper and zinc rule!”

Bonny’s reply stunned the choose it simply just failed to make any “cents.” So, he stared at the two and banged his gavel as he advised them to stand up. He proclaimed, “Clint and Bonny Steele: I am sentencing you both equally to function really hard labor in the copper-nickel mines from morning to midday. Then you both will go to the prison’s coin club meetings in which you will discover to value studying about other styles of coins.”

They did not mind tough labor in the copper mines, but going to coin clubs had been terrible – absolute torture for any human beings. Clint yelled at the choose, “This coin club conferences are unfair.” Then Clint mentioned frantically to Bonny, “Sis, we are getting ‘nickeled, dimed and quartered.”