[Paddlewise] Senior Kayaker with Novel Retirement Plan

> No Retirement for Elderly Bandit
  .c The Associated Press > By RACHEL LA CORTE
>  FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- At 78, Forrest Silva Tucker apparently 
wasn't 
> ready to become just another Florida retiree enjoying the nightly 
early-bird 
> special.
>  
>  Twenty years after he escaped from San Quentin Prison in a crude kayak, 
> Tucker was captured and accused of robbing a bank earlier this month.
>  
>  >  ``He looked like he just came off the golf course,'' said Lt. James 
Chinn. ``
> 
>  In 1979, Tucker was serving a 10-year robbery sentence at San Quentin when 
> he and two inmates escaped in a kayak made in the prison woodshop out of 
> pieces of plastic sheets, wood, duct tape and Formica.
>  
>  The craft, painted bright blue on one side with the words Rub-a-Dub-Dub in 
> red, floated the three to safety across San Francisco Bay. The two other 
> inmates were caught within months.
>  
>  Tucker remained on the loose until 1983, when he was arrested after a 
> shootout with the FBI in West Palm Beach and charged with stealing more 
than $
> 374,000 from a Boston bank. He took three hostages during the shootout and 
> was captured after he collapsed from blood loss from four gunshot wounds. 
He 
> was convicted a year later and released from prison in 1994.
>  
>  Authorities didn't realize that he still had time to serve in California.
>  

attached mail follows:

No Retirement for Elderly Bandit

.c The Associated Press

 By RACHEL LA CORTE

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- At 78, Forrest Silva Tucker apparently wasn't 
ready to become just another Florida retiree enjoying the nightly early-bird 
special.

Twenty years after he escaped from San Quentin Prison in a crude kayak, 
Tucker was captured and accused of robbing a bank earlier this month.

He didn't go quietly.

Police had had him under surveillance even before the holdup April 22 in 
Pompano Beach. On the day of the robbery, they were waiting for him at his 
wife's home. When he arrived, he led deputies on a high-speed chase before 
crashing into a palm tree.

In his car, deputies found more than $5,500 in cash from the robbery, a 
sawed-off assault rifle, two stocking masks, pepper spray, a police scanner 
and a New York detective badge.

``He looked like he just came off the golf course,'' said Lt. James Chinn. 
``You'd more expect to see him go to an early-bird special than robbing 
banks.''

In fact, six weeks before his arrest, he underwent a surgical procedure for 
an arrhythmia, or an irregular heart beat, Tucker told deputies.

Chinn said Tucker was the reputed leader of the Over the Hill Gang, a group 
of elderly men who robbed banks and stores in Florida in the 1980s.

``Potentially he's America's oldest bank robber,'' said Kirk Englehardt, a 
spokesman for the Broward County Sheriff's Office. ``Apparently, this guy had 
no intention of stopping. This was his retirement plan, I guess.''

Tucker's attorney, Charles White, would not comment. Tucker was jailed 
pending arraignment Wednesday.

His criminal record goes back to 1936, when he was arrested at 15 for 
stealing a bicycle.

In 1979, Tucker was serving a 10-year robbery sentence at San Quentin when he 
and two inmates escaped in a kayak made in the prison woodshop out of pieces 
of plastic sheets, wood, duct tape and Formica.

The craft, painted bright blue on one side with the words Rub-a-Dub-Dub in 
red, floated the three to safety across San Francisco Bay. The two other 
inmates were caught within months.

Tucker remained on the loose until 1983, when he was arrested after a 
shootout with the FBI in West Palm Beach and charged with stealing more than 
$374,000 from a Boston bank. He took three hostages during the shootout and 
was captured after he collapsed from blood loss from four gunshot wounds. He 
was convicted a year later and released from prison in 1994.

Authorities didn't realize that he still had time to serve in California.

Chinn said the FBI had been investigating Tucker in connectionn with several 
bank robberies in Florida over the past two years.

``This is a bad guy,'' Chinn said. ``I would hope that they never let him out 
again. His intent is not to kill somebody, but he is willing to do just that 
if necessary. That's why he's so dangerous.''

AP-NY-04-30-99 1638EDT

 Copyright 1998 The Associated Press.  The information  contained in the AP 
news report may not be published,  broadcast, rewritten or otherwise 
distributed without  prior written authority of The Associated Press. 

 

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