Waynesville man calls 911 before trying to rob bank     

Jon Ostendorff

July 15, 2009 06:04 PM

 

Waynesville — A 52-year-old Waynesville man called 911 on Wednesday to tell police that he was about to rob a bank.

Terrence Joseph Germani, who investigators believe walked to the Wachovia on Russ Avenue from his house on Parsley Street, was on the line with a dispatcher as he opened the bank's front door.

He calmly told the dispatcher he was wearing a black shirt and white shoes and was not armed.

“I've got a note, I am going to rob the bank,” he said. “I need to go to prison. I can't live like this anymore.”

Germani, police say, handed a teller a note saying he was there to rob the bank.

Patrol Officer William Benhart arrived shortly after Germani walked in.

The officer, in his report of the incident, said he reached for his gun and considered drawing the weapon and ordering the man to the ground but decided against that because the bank was full of customers.

Instead, he walked up to Germani and asked him what was going on.

“You got me,” the officer recalled Germani saying in his report. “I'm robbing the bank.”

The officer told Germani he wasn't under arrest at that point but he was being detained for questioning.

The man then demanded to be arrested.

“Arrest me,” he said. “I did it. I robbed the bank. I just handed her a note.”

The officer escorted Germani out of the bank, placed him under arrest after consulting with another office and took him to the police station.

Det. Ryan Singleton said Germani, in an interview, noted that times were hard for people with the bad economy but that he did not rob the bank for the money. He said he was a danger to himself and needed to be locked up.

“I want to go to prison,” the detective recalled him saying as his reason for committing the crime.

About an hour before calling 911, Germani had walked out of his job at Whitman's Bakery on Main Street where he was the head sandwich maker. He left a note at his home giving his possessions to his housemate, police said.

Singleton said this is the first time in his 11 years as a police officer that someone has called ahead before breaking the law.

Germani is charged with felony attempted common law robbery. He is in the Haywood County jail under a $15,000 bond.

His criminal record includes charges of felony larceny in Macon County and Florida.

 

 

Terrence Joseph Germani