A robber dropped a $1 donation into a Salvation Army kettle outside a bank as he fled with $5,000 in stolen cash, an FBI agent said.
Entering a Bank of America branch about noon Thursday, the man gave a teller a note demanding money and gestured as if he had a handgun, then fled on foot after receiving what deputies said was approximately $5,000."As he was leaving the bank, he deposited some of the bank's money with the Salvation Army and says, `The bank has been robbed,' " FBI agent Gary Auer said.
The volunteer bell ringer, unaware that the bank actually had been robbed or that the contributor was a robber, wished him a merry Christmas as he walked off.
"This has never happened to us," said Salvation Army Capt. Ken Hood, who is in charge of the organization's office in Lancaster.
Hood said he was called to the bank to open the locked kettle. Investigators removed all 15 of the $1 bills in the kettle so they could be checked for fingerprints.
"We'll get them back eventually - at least 14 of them," Hood said.