Serial bank robber Chris Peak, 65, simply does not like his freedom outside of prison walls.
Serial bank robber Chris Peak, 65, simply does not like his freedom outside of prison walls. He has served multiple long term sentences, the largest span of time outside of confinement totaling only three years. He was most recently released after fifteen and a half years in April 2016 after which he immediately asked his probation officer to return him to a medical center for federal prisoners located in Springfield, Missouri. “I asked to be sent back,” Peak told the judge. “I didn’t like it out here.”
Staying in a rooming house and receiving $700 per month in social security payments, Peak grew restless. He claims he asked how long he would get behind bars if he were caught with marijuana possession and was disappointed to hear he would serve only a few months before regaining his freedom. So, on December 15, Peak hailed a taxi cab at Broward Health Medical Center on Andrews Avenue. He instructed the driver to take him to a specific bank on Southeast 17th Street. When the cab arrived at its destination, Peak allegedly told the driver the bank was too large and crowded, and he wanted to go instead to any bank with “two, three, or four tellers and no security out front.” So, the unsuspecting driver suggested a PNC Bank on the 1300 block of the busy street, and they headed there instead.
At the new location, Peak told the driver to wait for him outside, threatening him with a knife. He then went in and handed the teller a note: “Put all loose bills in my hand. You have 60 sec.” He threatened her, too, with his knife.
Receiving $347, Peak returned to the cab, inadvertently leaving the note behind. “Peak instructed the driver to take him to Big Daddy’s liquor store and then to a Motel 6,” according to the FBI. However, he never made it to his next destination. Instead, Peak was arrested for what could be the last time.
The hardened criminal has lived longer than his life expectancy. He suffers from several medical ailments, including a heart condition, which doctors told him would take his life within six months to a year, but it did not. Peak was disappointed with this and he has begged the judge to give him the maximum punishment. In a wheelchair with nasal oxygen tubes, he said he just wanted to be sent back to his favorite federal prison hospital so he can die there.
Peak dropped out of a high school in Texas in the 10th grade after which he served in the U.S. Marines for three years. This stint caused him to go AWOL, leading to his life of crime. Peak then began committing his string of robberies. His last brush with freedom ended in October 2001 when he was caught with $1,023 stolen from a bank in Islamorada. Peak says he knows he doesn’t deserve any favors for the decisions he’s made. “I took my whole life and flushed it down the toilet,” he says, but he is hoping the judge will grant his request so he can die peacefully, nevertheless.
Sources:
Bank robber begs judge to give him the max so he can die in prison
Bank robber seeks maximum punishment at his favorite federal prison
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