Dumb and Dumber robber pleads guilty
A teenage bank robber whose Australian accent gave away his identity pleaded guilty today to robbing a bank in Colorado in the US at gunpoint.
Australian Luke Gabriel Carroll, aged 19, faces up to 25 years in prison at his September 23 sentencing for armed bank robbery.
His friend and co-worker, Anthony Harold Prince, a 19-year-old New Zealander with permanent Australian residency, pleaded guilty last week and will be sentenced on September 8.
The Australian press dubbed Carroll and Prince “Dumb and Dumber” because they left so many clues to their identity that they were arrested the day after the March 21 robbery.
Witnesses said the masked robbers, armed with ball-bearing pistols, had distinct accents and wore badges similar to ones worn by staff at the ski shop where Prince and Carroll worked.
A bank cashier was injured when she was pushed to the floor, authorities said.
Vail ski resort employees told police the teenagers used their ski passes to board a chair lift about a quarter of a mile from the bank within minutes of the robbery.
Investigators soon found pictures of Carroll and Prince, who were arrested in January for allegedly shooting out windows with a paintball gun, and distributed their photos on an FBI poster.
The day after the robbery, the pair drove 120 miles to Denver International Airport and tried to buy one-way tickets to Mexico, authorities said. A police officer recognised the teenagers from the poster – and from their accents – and arrested them.
Investigators later found cash in a rucksack in a rubbish bin in an airport car park, and Carroll was carrying cash when he was arrested, according to an FBI affidavit.
