All language subtitles for American Greed s01e02 The Imposter-Interstate Bank Mart Bandit.eng

In this episode of American Greed. I
didn't know his real name. I didn't know

his real age.

I didn't know whether or not anything
that I had learned about him or thought

knew was in any way true.

The perfect husband turns out to be an
imposter. And if he wasn't Dr.

Gerald Barnes, who was he?

And later, a businessman with a secret.

He was leading these dual lives.

A life built on lies and deception.

He had absolutely no conscience. Taking
from those who know him and those who

don't, a serial bank robber in his own
word.

No big money, no alarms be calling if no
one gets hurt.

Okay, hold on, sweetie. We're going to
get an x -ray, all right?

You're right there.

In 1979, Rick D 'Alessandro works as a
physician's assistant to Dr. Gerald

Barnes, the director of a medical
facility in Orange County, California.

He was a very likable little guy. Funny
and entertaining and easy to talk to,

engaging guy.

On the morning of December 26th, 29
-year -old John McKenzie shows up for a

visit with Dr.

Barnes. He was losing weight and he was
tired and, you know, thirsty.

You know, he just didn't look good.

McKenzie has been feeling sick for
several days.

He had presented to Dr. Barnes with some
dizziness, excessive thirst, excessive

urination, dry mouth, problems with
equilibrium and balance.

Dr. Barnes gives the patient a
prescription for an antivertico drug and

him home, while routine blood tests are
sent to the lab.

The next day, McKenzie's blood results
come back.

But Dr. Barnes has the day off.

They brought me the chart when the
results came back on Mr. McKenzie

that he had a 1 ,200 blood sugar.

Normal blood sugar is like 100, 80 to
100. And he had a 1 ,200.

To D 'Alessandro, the patient is showing
classic symptoms of an acute diabetic

crisis. And John McKenzie's life could
be in imminent danger.

D 'Alessandro tries desperately to reach
the patient.

Nobody had heard from him nor seen him.
His emergency contact numbers, his ex

-wife and someone else that was on there
had not heard from him or seen him. So

I decided to call the police.

Officers from the Garden Grove Police
Department head to McKenzie's address

break the door in.

I found him dead in his kitchen laying
on the floor with Dr.

Barnes' prescription for the dizziness
drug in his hand.

And he had collapsed and went into a
coma and died.

The 29 -year -old is dead.

from uncontrolled diabetes.

He should have been hospitalized or, you
know, right there. He just, something

should have been done. But they sent him
home.

While McKenzie's family struggles with
the senseless loss, Rick D 'Alessandro

wants answers.

How could any doctor miss such a common
and easily diagnosed condition?

The physician's assistant decides to do
some checking.

So calling the medical board up in
Sacramento and having them.

Facts down a picture and identification
and information regarding Gerald Barnes.

Well, the picture that comes down
doesn't look anything like Barnes. And

home address is like a street in
Stockton.

Stockton is 400 miles from the Orange
County Clinic.

And for Rick D 'Alessandro, the proof is
shocking.

He has been working with a fraud.

This is a huge, huge issue. This guy had
been there for a few years.

had been elevated to a medical director
and was seeing patients by the tune of

like 30 or 40 every single day for years
now.

D 'Alessandro reports his findings to
the police, and on August 8, 1980, the

phony doctor is arrested for murder.

Barnes begins working at that Pacific
Southwest Medical Group in 78.

Orange County Deputy D .A. James Enright
and Investigator Eddie Banks are tasked

with building a case against the
imposter.

Well, we knew right away we could get
him on practicing medicine without a

license. The big thing was to get him on
the manslaughter.

Because the practicing medicine without
a license didn't have much teeth in it

at all at that time.

Their investigation reveals that the
suspect is not really Gerald Barnes, but

man named Gerald Barnbaum, a pharmacist
from Chicago who got caught up in a

Medicaid scam five years earlier.

Though acquitted by a jury, Barnbaum's
pharmacy license was revoked, and he

decided to start over in California.

He did background checks. The guy was a
founder. The guy was an actor.

Barnbaum has been a college thespian and
was heavily involved in community

theater.

Upon landing in Orange County in 1977,
he created his own starring role as a

doctor, even though he had no medical
training.

He called the medical board and asked
the medical board for a duplicate copy

his license, saying that he was Gerald
Barnes, a physician in Stockton. The

medical board then sent him a copy
because he said he was opening up a

Los Angeles, sent him a copy of the
license without doing any other

other than that.

Now, the Orange County District
Attorney's Office hopes to stop him

Never mind he wasn't a doctor. There was
a connection between what he should

have done, what he didn't do, and the
death of McKenzie.

Ultimately, that's what we got to.

On May 29, 1981, the con man pleads
guilty in a plea bargain to the charges

manslaughter and practicing medicine
without a license.

He is sentenced to three years in
prison.

For the family of John McKenzie, the
sentence does not seem to fit the crime.

And the victim's four -year -old
daughter, Jill, is left without a

He was a nice young man with a lot of
life ahead of him.

And he could have been who knows what he
could have been.

And that's what's so sad, is that he and
Jill had that taken away.

And there is another victim still, the
man whose good name was tainted by the

imposter. My wife tells me she was
driving to a nearby town and she heard

radio that Dr.

Gerald Barnes had been arrested and
found guilty of manslaughter.

The real Dr. Gerald Barnes is a well
-respected orthopedic surgeon from

California. He had no idea that his
identity had been stolen.

Well, first I was in shock. I didn't
know that someone, you know, how could

someone do something like this? Then the
more I thought about it, the madder I

got, you know.

But I was satisfied after I found out
that he was incarcerated and this was

going to be the end of the problem.

The problem, however, is only beginning.

After 18 months, the imposter doctor is
released on good behavior and picks up

right where he left off as Dr.

Gerald Barnes.

Until one day when Dr.

Barnes comes face to face with the man
who blew the whistle on his charade. He

looks at me and he says, hi, Rick, how
you doing?

And I said, well, Gerald, I'm not doing
too well because you're doing the same

thing that you did back in the 70s. And
he said, well, you know, this is all

just a big mistake.

In 1996, life is good for Lisa Roberts
and her husband, Dr. Gerald Barnes.

The couple has been married just over a
year.

It was very romantic, and along with the
courtship, there were, you know,

flowers and evenings out for dinner or
to events and concerts.

You know, charmed the girl right off her
feet.

While Dr. Barnes earns a six -figure
salary as medical director at a Los

clinic, Lisa makes plans for their
future together.

My expectations were that we would have
children and at some point we would

be able to save enough money to start
his own practice.

The doctor and his wife seem to have
everything going for them.

Until one day when Dr. Barnes runs into
an old acquaintance at an industry

Christmas party.

And I'm looking to see what's on his
lapel because when you check into the

Christmas party, they gave you a little
sticky tag that says, hi, I'm so -and

-so, you know.

And his said, hi, I'm Dr. Barnes.

Rick D 'Alessandro worked as a
physician's assistant to the same Dr.

years ago.

Problem is, Gerald Barnes is not really
a doctor. He's an imposter who, in 1979,

was responsible for his patient's death.

John McKenzie.

was 29 years old.

I wanted him off the street because this
guy hurts people and, in fact, kills

people.

The next day, D 'Alessandro drives to
Los Angeles and a meeting with Dr.

supervisors at the clinic.

He said, are you aware that this guy,
Gerald Barnes, is a fraud? He's not

a doctor.

While they're talking, Gerald Barnes
happens in.

He looks at me and he says, hi, Rick,
how you doing?

And I said, well, Gerald, I'm not doing
too well because you're doing the same

thing that you did back in the 70s. And
he said, well, you know, this is all

just a big mistake.

I can go home and get all the
information I need to. And they said,

know, this is a pretty serious thing, so
we do need you to do that. So we need

you to go home and get it. Well, he
disappeared. They never saw him again.

D 'Alessandro reports Barnes to the
California Medical Board, who in turn

it to the FBI.

Agent Marie Konjowski learns that her
suspect's given name is Gerald Barnbaum,

and he has been using the stolen
identity of the real Dr. Gerald Barnes

two decades.

He had been convicted three times in the
80s for

various state violations involving his
portrayal of the real

physician. Since 1981, the imposter has
been in and out of prison.

serving a total of five years.

While behind bars, he took medical
correspondence courses.

And each time he stepped out of the
prison gates, he stepped into his lab

and resumed his life as a doctor.

Incredibly, the imposter has been hired
over and over again by at least half a

dozen medical companies in Southern
California.

Konjalski also learns that more than a
hundred of the FBI's own agents are

patients of the phony doctor.

The FBI had a contract with that
particular clinic to perform both

physicals for FBI agents as well as pre
-employment exams that are required as

part of the application process.

When the so -called Dr. Gerald Barnes is
taken into custody, his wife, Lisa

Roberts, is left in shock.

I didn't know his real name. I didn't
know his real age.

I didn't know whether or not anything
that I had learned about him or thought

knew. wasn't any way true. And if he
wasn't Dr.

Gerald Barnes, who was he? And who had I
let share my life and my bed and my

family? And who had I trusted?

Robert says she couldn't have imagined
that her husband wasn't really a doctor.

Here I am. I'm married to a man who I
believe to be a physician.

Every day he goes out and he acts as a
physician. He wears the physician's

He works with patients. Other doctors
think he's a doctor. Patients think he's

doctor. The FBI thought he was a doctor.
So who am I to not think he was a

doctor?

On October 10, 1996, Gerald Barnes, a .k
.a. Gerald Barnbaum, stands

before a federal judge to face six
charges of fraud.

Today, the 62 -year -old appeared weak
and had difficulty walking. He claims to

suffer from diabetes and prostate
cancer.

Barnbaum pleads guilty in another plea
bargain and is sentenced to 12 1⁄2 years

in a federal prison.

The real Dr. Barnes is there to see his
imposter put away.

He was crying about the fact that he was
sick and he wouldn't be able to see his

grandchildren and so forth and so on.

And that's when the judge said, I'm
convinced that if I were to let you

set you free, that you would 100 %
chance that you would do this again.

He was driven to do this as evidenced by
the fact that...

He wasn't afraid to go back to prison.

He'd get out of prison, and almost
immediately he would start practicing

medicine again.

He collects money, he treats people, he
hurts people, and the same thing

happens. He's arrested again, and you
see the headline. You never know what

happens after that. And for the most
part, it goes away.

Investigators hope this prison stretch
will finally put an end to Barnbaum's

counterfeit career.

But this 63 -year -old con man seems to
have a way of hoodwinking nearly

everyone he meets.

I received a word from one of my
colleagues here at the FBI and then soon

thereafter got a call from the U .S.
Marshal Service who'd been notified by

Bureau of Prisons of his escape.

I had to prove that I was the good guy
and he was the bad guy. Dr. Gerald

is an orthopedic surgeon.

He's been practicing in Stockton,
California for 37 years.

It almost gets to the point that you
become calloused over this because it

happens so often.

For more than two decades, Dr. Barnes
has been shadowed by an imposter, a man

who stole his medical license, his
credentials, and his good name.

Then we got into all the problems with
the stealing of my identity as far as

opening accounts and buying two cars and
my driver's license, which I've had to

change over the years and so forth. So
it's been a real headache.

In 1996, the identity thief, whose real
name is Gerald Barnbaum, receives his

longest prison sentence to date,

12 1⁄2 years in the federal pen.

And the case of the phony doctor should
finally be brought to a close.

Four years later, Barnbaum is
transferred to another prison. And once

pops up on the radar of the FBI.

I learned that given that he had been
categorized as a low security inmate,

that in transferring Mr. Barnbaum from
one facility in California to

another facility in another state, that
he was given a bus ticket and allowed

to travel.

on his own.

Barnbaum is supposed to report to a
prison in Illinois, but he never shows

After a month of searching, U .S.
Marshal Joseph Exner locates the

North Hollywood clinic.

Myself, my partner in LAPD went inside
the clinic.

I called out for Gerald Barnbaum.

He stepped out wearing a white coat, a
stethoscope.

He simply said, you guys are good.

And then I turned him around, patted him
down, and put the cuffs on.

In May of 2004, Gerald Barnbaum pleads
guilty to three additional counts of

fraud and identity theft.

A federal judge adds another 10 years to
the imposter's 12 -and -a -half -year

sentence.

He had used the same false identity
documents to portray himself as the real

Dr. Gerald Barnes.

got a job at this clinic and was seeing
a number of patients a day and once

again prescribing controlled substances
in violation of federal law.

Barnbaum collected an estimated $100
,000 a year during his counterfeit

and built insurance companies and
individuals out of more than $5 million

fraudulent patient claims.

The last company that hired the
imposter, Executive Health Group, was

hit the hardest.

The last clinic at which he was employed
here in Los Angeles had billed

somewhere in the neighborhood of about
$350 ,000 to their clients for

services that had been provided by Mr.
Barnbaum.

In addition to repaying much of the
fraudulent billing, Executive Health

was slapped with a multimillion -dollar
civil lawsuit brought on by nearly 500

former patients, including...

Carl Janssen, an executive with Atlantic
Richfield Corporation.

I was on their executive payroll, and
one of our benefits was an annual, they

called it executive medical exam.

Janssen had received a full workup by
Dr. Barnes in 1996.

We went through the routine medical
exam, included all the questions, the

work, checking your vitals, all of those
kinds of things.

He was very personable, appeared to be
very professional about what he was

doing. Part of the exam was a prostate
exam, and he seemed to be very

professional about all of that.

Jansen had no idea anything was amiss
until the next day when he saw his

on the evening news.

Out came...

The good Dr. Barnes in handcuffs out of
executive health, and I went, whoa, you

know, what in the world is going on?
Today, Gerald Barnes, seen here in 1981,

was arraigned in federal court on
charges of practicing medicine without a

license. The businessman soon found out
that he had been duped by an imposter.

I went into executive health fully
trusting that they had a competent

professional staff.

I had no reason to think otherwise.

I'm sure it was as big a surprise to
them as it was to me. Now, you could

that it's understandable that it was a
surprise to me, and it shouldn't have

been a surprise to them.

Diane Goldman represents Jansen and
other plaintiffs in the civil suit.

She believes that health care companies
need to be held responsible for the

people they hire.

They definitely need to be more
diligent.

The evidence that was developed in the
lawsuit showed that the...

background information or background
investigation that was supposed to be

performed on this imposter doctor wasn't
done. And had they done the bare

minimum, they would have discovered his
numerous felony convictions and the

problems surrounding him.

While Executive Health Group denies
liability in the case, the lawsuit was

settled for just over $9 million, and
the company is now out of business.

Money. Follow the money. It's always
about money.

For Lisa Roberts, who was once married
to Gerald Baumbach, and now refers to

phony husband as the never was.

The ability for the con man to
perpetrate his fraud over and over again

down to one thing.

Greed. It's always about money.

It was about money for the never was. It
was about money for his companies. It

was about money for the people who he
worked for before.

that apparently knew that there was
something wrong and had fired him for a

variety of reasons, but said nothing to
anyone.

Gerald Baumbach is now 74 years old. He
is serving his sentence at Wasika

Federal Prison in Minnesota.

His projected release date is in 2018.

He's a very dangerous human being.

His age won't make any difference.

Now he can be almost semi -retired
physician. And no doubt when he walks

those doors, he will be a physician
again.

Next on American Greed, he hit 43 banks
in six states. There was a demand note

indicating I have a gun, be quiet.

A serial bandit who can't be stopped.

They've done it this many times. Why
would they stop?

Deluding capture for nearly two years.

And now, the hunt is on.

Louisville, Kentucky.

The River City.

Gateway to the South.

On November 11, 2002, the city falls
prey to a bank robber who targets banks

inside of grocery stores.

He adds Louisville to an ever -growing
list of cities he's targeted.

His weapons, a simple disguise and a
threatening note.

His take today, $6 ,000.

Louisville Metro Detective Larry Duncan
draws the case.

Duncan's been chasing robbers for the
past 11 years.

There was a demand note indicating this
is a holdup, I have a gun, be calm,

both drawers, be quiet, go home alive.

The note is clean, no fingerprints.

The robber is a white male who appears
to be in his early to mid -40s. The

teller describes him as wearing a
mustache and a fishing hat.

Larry Duncan believes this bandit has
hit before.

Over the past five months, there have
been four similar bank holdups in the

Louisville metro area, including one two
weeks earlier, just across the border

in Indiana.

The clothing worn during the
Jeffersonville, Indiana robbery

of tan coveralls, a fishing -style hat.

or a boonie hat, as did the robbery at
the Winn -Dixie on November 11th. So

it did for me clearly was indicate this
was the same person that was responsible

for now at least five bank robberies.

870, I'm going to be out for about 20
minutes.

115 miles northeast in Blue Ash, Ohio,
Detective Joe Schlee is investigating a

grocery store bank robbery of his own.

Schlee notices a teletype fax from
Detective Duncan about a series of

bank robberies in Louisville, Kentucky.

I did not know Larry Duncan prior to
this case.

He sent me a photo matrix of bank video
shots that he

had received, and we showed that matrix
to Howard Teller, and he was definite

that it was the same guy that hit her.

Detective Duncan suspects the Blue Ash
robber could be the same man linked to

other grocery store robberies in four
states.

Duncan is searching the Internet for
banks and markets near interstates when

thought crosses his mind about the
bandits' sophisticated methods.

I think the guy I'm looking for is doing
the exact same thing I'm doing. You

could almost visualize the two of us
doing the same thing with those

me in an attempt to locate where he was
going to go next.

and him an attempt to decide where he
was going to go next.

Larry Duncan examines a map in his
office and sees a pattern unfolding

him.

When you look at the relationship
between Indianapolis, Indiana,

Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio, and the
major interstates that are intersecting

those three highways, and then run a
parallel with that to the bankmark that

he's hitting, he really had no other
alternative other than to name the

interstate Bankmark Bandit.

The Interstate Bankmark Bandit, or IBM
for short, lands squarely on the FBI's

radar. My initial contact with the IBM
Bandit case was a robbery that I had

in Cincinnati, Ohio.

We've hidden the agent's face at the
FBI's request.

When I came back from that robbery and I
started having conversations with

Detective Joe Schley, I found that he
not only...

had his bank robbery in Blue Ash, but
also was working on other bank robberies

here in Cincinnati, trying to link them
as well as bank robberies down in

Louisville and Lexington.

Duncan, Schlee, and Fryhofer team up to
form the IBM task force.

They suspect the bandit of at least 20
robberies, but are no closer to

identifying them.

Just before sunset on a Friday night,
the task force catches an unexpected

break.

In June of 2003, a bank robbery occurred
inside a Meijer

in Lexington, Kentucky.

It's IBM's 29th robbery.

A surveillance camera at the Meijer
grocery store captured this photo of

getaway. You're actually able to see the
IBM Bandit entering the backseat of the

getaway vehicle.

And clearly you're able to determine
that it is a black, late 90s model, four

-door, BMW, IL, I believe.

Police learned something else from the
images.

IBM has an accomplice.

In some of his demand notes, he would
make reference that we are listening and

we have a scanner. A lot of times that
is a trick, but we had evidence

suggesting that this was correct.

And we were getting evidence that there
was a white female sitting in a car

outside that he was getting in.

The task force develops a theory about
the robber's home base.

I think he started in Indianapolis.

He got some exposure, and he didn't like
it, so he said, I'm going to go further

away. And we could almost feel that we
could travel with the IBM bandit down

expressway that he was using as he was
hitting each one of these and then

turning around again and heading back
into what we assumed was his safe zone

Indiana. Detective Duncan uses that
theory to formulate a plan to catch IBM.

He calls it Operation Intercept.

Cops will monitor the interstates,
hoping to capture IBM as he heads back

to Indiana.

Duncan selects five banks in the
Louisville metro area that fit the

.O. We would put undercover cars and
undercover detectives as tellers inside

these banks so that when he hit...

we would be right on top of him.

Officers would then use police radios to
coordinate IBM's capture.

So the idea was to calmly state
Operation Intercept and then set up and

pulling over all the black four -door
BMWs that were heading

north toward Indianapolis.

The city of Louisville puts its full
force, about 1 ,200 officers, on

operational alert.

On September 6, 2003, with the trap set
and baited, IBM robs a U .S. bank in

Louisville just as the task force
predicted.

It's hit number 35.

The sergeant that got on the radio
almost shouted Operation Intercept. It

quiet and discreet by any means.

I'm kind of shaking my head and thinking
to myself, Duncan, you're blowing it,

you're blowing it, I know I'm blowing
it.

Because I felt without question that the
interstate benchmark bandit was

listening to every word over that radio
and that it was slipping away from me.

The bandit avoids the interstates and
slips through the noose.

One week passes without even a fleeting
glimpse of IBM or the black BMW.

And finally, I call the commander of the
operation and I say, well, we've blown

it. He's not hitting.

And he said, are you asking me to call
it off? And I was like, yeah, I'm asking

to call it off.

We've missed our chance.

When we come back, Larry Duncan is left
to wonder if and when we'll get another

shot at the IBM Bandit.

For more information and special web
exclusives, log on to AmericanGreed

.com.

16 months and 35 banks into the crime
spree, IBM is still on the loose.

His take so far?

$136 ,000.

And only two people know his true
identity.

One is the blonde female who drives the
getaway car.

The other is a 46 -year -old self
-proclaimed entrepreneur with a shady

named David Branko.

David Branko is the IBM bandit.

The first time I met David, he was
impeccably dressed.

Phil Sperry runs a title company out of
Bloomington, Indiana.

He and his late wife, Bonnie, crossed
paths with David Brankle in 1999.

He always seemed to have the right
response to any question.

He was cool.

He was very smooth.

Brankle rents a small office in a
building they own.

This is the space that we rented to
David Brankle. It was to be his

where he was going to operate all of his
business and his dealing with

architecture and construction.

And his company was called ACR.

Now, I know the A was for architecture,
and I know the C was for construction,

and now I understand the R is for
robbery.

David Brankle approaches Bonnie with a
proposition.

that they create an interior design firm
named Trade Secrets.

I think he saw her as a meal ticket.

I think he thought that she was the kind
of person who perhaps could be peeled

off and attended to individually so that
he would get access to

the great fortune, whatever that is.

Brankle uses the Sperry name to reach
into the pockets of other Bloomington

businesses.

Sullivan's Clothing Store is a
Bloomington institution.

David went in and ran up a bill, I think
it was about $1 ,700, and paid it off,

no problem, and then said to Bobby,
well, could I

perhaps have a house account?

And so Bobby said, sure, at which point
I believe he ran up a little over $8

,000 worth.

because he was a dapper dresser.

And then that's when he didn't pay.

As time goes on, David Brankle begins to
wear out his welcome in Bloomington.

Phil and Bonnie Sperry cut him off, both
personally and professionally.

I very much regret the damage done to
our friends, and

I really feel responsible for having
caused that to happen, and I very much

regret that.

Brankle skips town with his wife and
young son and drives southwest, landing

Vincennes, Indiana.

There, he finds his next mark.

Alan Logan is well -known in Vincennes.

He and his wife Becky own one of the
town's favorite family businesses,

Wet Pets and More.

The Logans are looking to expand their
pet store concept into a family

entertainment complex they call Logan's
Great Escape.

We met David. Our first impression was
legitimate businessman.

We needed our developer, you know, and
here he was.

Actually, Becky and I thought, when we
were going home that night talking, we

said maybe this was God's gift to us.

Branko sells himself as a consultant
with the Vanguard Capital Marketing

and says he is based in Chicago.

He had Vanguard Capital marketing
material spread out on the table, nice

of all their jobs they completed, and
the contract on how much it was going to

cost to hire them, and timetables and
all that, and it looked legit.

But it isn't.

Brankle tells them he needs a retainer
of $3 ,500 to start, as well as $500 per

month over the course of the project.

Then Brankle turns to an old con man's
ploy.

He was getting ready to go out of town
on another project, and he needed to

ASAP.

And the following morning, I come down
here right and early and wrote a big

check for him.

The beginning of each month, David
Brankle comes to collect his check,

with his son at his side.

And a lot of times he'd bring Michael
in, and Michael would have the bill in

hand and give it to me.

Sad.

To everyone around him, David Brankle is
the epitome of a successful

businessman. But he's living multiple
lives.

Sunday through Wednesday, Brankle lives
in this rented house in Vincennes with

his wife and son.

Thursday through Saturday, he travels
back to Bloomington to a girlfriend

Donna Hewins and his life as a serial
bankrupt.

He said that they were watching a movie
about a bank robber.

He said, what would you think of me if I
told you this is what I do for a

living? And she reportedly said, I would
still love you.

Andrew Wolfson is a reporter for the
Louisville Courier -Journal.

And then gradually she became
increasingly involved.

She would start driving the getaway car.
She would join him on encasing the

banks. Donna met David at a topless bar
in Bloomington where she worked as a

waitress. They dated, grew close, and
Donna became Bonnie to David Brankle's

plight. By the time I met him, he was a
very self -pitying character who blamed

everything on everyone else, including
and mostly his mother.

He was hoping he could become the most
successful bank robber of all time

because his mother had always said he
couldn't mow the lawn right.

David Brankle, it turns out, is very
good at one thing in his life.

taking advantage of everyone and
everything around him.

I would not only say he was a
narcissist. I would say he's a sociopath

sense that he had absolutely no
conscience.

You can ask anybody in this town that
shops with me.

I'd give you my shirt off my back if I
could help you out. And they'll tell you

I would.

But I couldn't do that now.

And that hurts.

David Brankle's success as the IBM
bandit has been a perfect mix of luck,

and planning.

But as 2003 draws to a close, one
mistake is about to change everything.

If he was going to come up with a gun, I
wanted to have mine out first.

December of 2003.

In the nearly four months since the IBM
bandit escaped Operation Intercept,

David Brankle and Donna Hewins have been
very busy, committing another eight

robberies, bringing the total to 43.

Four more months of payments have cost
the Logans an additional $2 ,000.

On December 29th, David Brankle is
visiting Bloomington once again, and his

changes. On Highway 45, Brankle nearly
strikes a vehicle driven by Bloomington

police detective Kevin Hill.

I noticed in my rearview mirror a black
BMW coming at a high rate of speed, and

he basically cut myself and the other
vehicle off, sending us into oncoming

traffic, almost causing an accident, and
he lost control of his vehicle, and

that's where I pulled him over about a
quarter mile down the road.

Detective Hill calls in the driver's
information.

Well, the driver's license wasn't coming
back, but the plate came back stolen.

Hill moves in to remove the driver from
the car.

for him to show me his hands, and he
gave me his left hand, but he wouldn't

me the right one. He had it down below
his right leg.

And so I kept telling him to bring his
hand up, and he wouldn't do it, so I

pulled my gun out and pointed it at him
and told him to let me see his hands,

and they better come up empty.

And he looked up at me, and he said,
we're okay, and he dropped the car in

drive, and he took off.

The pursuit reaches speeds in excess of
100 miles an hour.

They're running people off the road.
He's disregarding stop signs, driving

through intersections.

The BMW sedan leaves Detective Hill's
Ford Taurus in the dust.

David Brankle escapes the police yet
again.

But this time, he leaves a vital clue in
their hands.

An Indiana driver's license.

Just across the Wabash River from
Illinois sits Vincennes, Indiana.

Vincennes is Indiana's first city. It is
about to become David Brankle's last.

This is the house at 1919 Hickory that
David Brankle lived at.

When the state police were looking for
the stolen plate, Trooper Trotter

and saw the garage door was open and saw
the vehicle on the plate.

Shortly after that, David Brankle came
out and got in his car.

Brankle leads the Indiana State Police
on a chase through the streets of

Vincennes. As I was listening to the
pursuit, I was coming down College, and

heard John Trotter say that he was out
on foot.

Brankle had abandoned his child in the
car, and so Trooper Trotter was staying

with the child at that time with the
car.

Brankle runs, trying to lose Sergeant
Winkler in the maze of apartment

buildings.

As he was coming up to one of the
apartment complexes, he tripped on the

and fell down.

The sergeant moves quickly to handcuff
his suspect.

As he does, a small knife lands in the
grass.

And he kept telling me that, you know,
it just fell out of his pocket. He

going to stab me or anything with it.

And I handcuffed him and put him in the
car and took him to jail.

David Brankle is booked into the Knox
County Jail.

The BMW is inventoried by the Indiana
State Police.

In the trunk, they find suitcases filled
with the tools of a successful bank

robber on the move.

He told me who he was, the IBM bandit.

And they said, well, you call the
Louisville Metro Police and Cincinnati

They'll know who I am. They'll want to
talk to me.

Larry Duncan is busy working at his desk
when the phone rings.

I received a call in the robbery office.

Detective Duncan, I have a fellow that
you'll know down here.

He says he's the IBM bandit.

And I said, what's he look like? And he
said, hey, Larry, this is your guy.

Sergeant Greg Winkler runs the list of
evidence pulled from Brankle's car.

Notes on banks in several states.

Baseball caps and disguises seen in bank
surveillance video.

Nine millimeter handgun and ammunition.

After we hung up the phone, I called Joe
and says, y 'all got to get down here.

Get a hold of CJ and get down here as
quick as you can.

The three investigators rushed to
Vincennes and their first meeting with

bandit. When I extended my hand to him
to shake his hand, he moved

forward toward me as if he was going to
hug me.

It kind of broke the ice for all of us
because I realized at that moment we

going to talk and we would probably be
there for a long, long, long time.

David Brankle speaks to investigators
for nearly six hours that first night.

American Greed has obtained audio from
that interrogation.

Brankle begins with his first robbery.

He tells investigators about Donna's
involvement in the robberies.

Donna got involved in this because she
loves me.

She drove or rode with me and acted as a
secretary or listened to.

He explains the motivation for his
crimes, that he and his wife were

estranged. He believed he would lose his
son.

David Branko tells investigators
everything.

Branko is charged in federal court with
43 counts of unarmed bank robbery.

Facing more than 180 years in federal
prison, Branko cuts a deal and receives

years behind bars.

Donna Hewins pleads guilty to one count
of conspiracy to commit unarmed bank

robbery and receives house arrest and
five years probation for her crime.

David Brankle is also ordered to pay
more than $175 ,000 in restitution for

crimes. Not a dime of that money makes
its way back to Phil Sperry or Alan and

Becky Logan, since David Brankle is not
charged with any crimes relating to his

dealings with them.

He had no remorse towards the Sperrys,
and he claims that he did legitimate

for the Logans and that he didn't rip
them off.

Now, David Brankle is a con.

man.

But if that man had used his
intelligence and all the good things

do good instead of using it to do bad
and do evil, he could have accomplished

great things in his life.

Just the kind of fellow that a lot of
times would rather lie to you than tell

the truth, even though it didn't make
any sense. And we'll tell you

David, why did you do that? And as he
told Andy Wilson, that's just David.

In an upcoming episode of American
Greed.

It's one of the largest art thefts in
the United States.

There was wall -to -wall artwork.

130 pieces of fine art vanished.

Picasso print.

This is the golden egg. You won't
believe the characters behind the heist.

know, we'll either be princes or
prisoners if this thing goes wrong.

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