Theodore John Conrad was solely 20 years previous when he robbed the Society Nationwide Financial institution in Cleveland on July 11, 1969, based on the U.S. Marshals Service
Fairfax Media Archives/Fairfax Media through Getty Pictures
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Fairfax Media Archives/Fairfax Media through Getty Pictures
Theodore John Conrad was solely 20 years previous when he robbed the Society Nationwide Financial institution in Cleveland on July 11, 1969, based on the U.S. Marshals Service
Fairfax Media Archives/Fairfax Media through Getty Pictures
After greater than 50 years, the person answerable for probably the most infamous financial institution robberies in Ohio historical past has been recognized.
Theodore John Conrad was solely 20 years previous when he robbed the Society Nationwide Financial institution in Cleveland on July 11, 1969, based on the U.S. Marshals Service. Conrad labored as a teller on the financial institution, and on the day of the theft he stashed $215,000 — or round $1.7 million in 2021 {dollars} — in a paper bag and easily walked out the door. As a result of the theft occurred on a Friday, the financial institution was not conscious of something amiss till the next Monday morning, once they checked the vault and located the cash gone, the Marshals mentioned.
Conrad, unsurprisingly, didn’t present up for work that Monday. He had a two-day head-start on regulation enforcement, and managed to keep away from seize for 52 years.
It wasn’t till earlier this month that U.S. Marshals based mostly in Cleveland found {that a} man named Thomas Randele was, in truth, Conrad. Randele lived in Lynnfield, Mass., and had been residing in a suburban neighborhood because the Seventies till he died of lung most cancers in Might on the age of 71.
The Marshals mentioned they made the invention after matching paperwork that Conrad had stuffed out within the Nineteen Sixties with paperwork that Randele had stuffed out later in life — together with a 2014 submitting for chapter.
The heist was impressed by ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’
Based on the Marshals, Conrad’s heist was impressed partially by the 1968 Steve McQueen movie “The Thomas Crown Affair.” The film follows a high-powered businessman who pulls off a financial institution heist for the enjoyable of it. Conrad watched the film a half dozen instances the 12 months earlier than the theft, based on authorities. After watching the film, he instructed buddies that he believed it might be straightforward to rob a financial institution and that he deliberate to take action.
His buddies by no means believed him on the time, based on Cleveland.com. One buddy, Russell Metcalf, had even had lunch with Conrad on the day of the theft.
“I had no thought,” Metcalf instructed the outlet. “He at all times mentioned the safety was lax. He mentioned it would not be exhausting.”
In Massachusetts, Conrad started a brand new life as a automotive salesman and taught golf classes, based on the Cleveland.com report. He additionally bought married and had a toddler.
The top of the case introduced closure to at least one household with two generations of Marshals
Fixing the case offered closure to Peter J. Elliott, a U.S. Marshal whose father, John Okay. Elliott, additionally labored on the investigation, based on an announcement from the Marshal’s service.
“I hope my father is resting a bit of simpler as we speak understanding his investigation and his United States Marshals Service introduced closure to this decades-long thriller,” Elliott mentioned. “The whole lot in actual life does not at all times finish like within the motion pictures.”
