Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / Getty
An accused bank robber’s idiosyncratic penmanship landed him back in jail after a detective recognized the particular shape of the “O’s” in the New York City man’s demand notes, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Daily Beast.
Federal charges against Elliott Allen were unsealed May 8, fingering the 27-year-old as the suspect in a string of stickups dating back to last year. Some of the demand notes used in the robberies were threatening, while others bordered on the apologetic, offering justifications for the robbery: among them, homelessness, child care expenses, and being “dopesick.” They were all written with a peculiar specificity, ordering tellers to hand over precise—and relatively modest—dollar amounts.
The first location was hit the morning of Nov. 10, 2022, when a man in a light gray Champion hoodie walked into a Santander branch in the Bronx and passed a handwritten note to one of the tellers.