Man Robs $1 from Bank in Bid to Get Sent to Prison

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In an old episode of The Office, boss Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) attempts to convince the employees at his Scranton, Penn. paper company of the gritty “realities” of prison after he hears some of them say they’d rather be in jail than work at Dunder-Mifflin.

Michael eventually realizes that his workers wouldn’t really prefer to spend their days in jail. But for one man in another part of Pennsylvania, the allure of prison was very real. So real that he decided to rob a bank in the hopes of landing himself a spot in the slammer. Even though he demanded just $1, Jeffery M. McMullen, 50, has been charged with three robbery offenses for the stunt, the Johnstown, Penn., Tribune-Democrat reports.

(LIST: Top 10 Brazen Heists)

McMullen, a regular customer at an AmeriServ bank branch in western Pennsylvania’s Cambria County, outlined his demands in two notes he handed to the tellers, who initially thought it was a joke. Soon, he allegedly told an employee to “to give him the money so no one got hurt,” and tried reaching into her money drawer. Eventually, another employee took a dollar bill from her purse and handed it to him.

In McMullen’s first note, he allegedly wrote, “FBI custody. Preferbly [sic] Loretto Pa. No press. Seal all files.” In an additional note, he allegedly scrawled, “Federal bank robbery. Please hand over $1.00.” Although the first note referred to the federal prison in Loretto, Penn., he’s currently being held in Cambria County prison.

Police have yet to determine why McMullen was so eager to get himself into the clink. NewsFeed’s current hypothesis: he saw a re-run of that Office episode, agreed that prison sounded pretty great, and began scheming. If only he’d made it to the end of the segment.

MORE: Messy Handwriting Foils Delaware Man’s Robbery Attempt