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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| German seniors on trial for kidnapping their banker |
| 2010-02-08 |
| Mon Feb 8, 1:15 pm ET BERLIN (Reuters) – Four elderly Germans went on trial on Monday charged with kidnapping their financial adviser and holding him prisoner in a basement in an attempt to recover 2.5 million euros (2.19 million pounds) in lost savings, a court spokesman said. They are accused of seizing the financial adviser, a 56-year-old man, outside his apartment in the western town of Speyer, binding and gagging him and bundling him into the boot of a car before driving him some 500 km (300 miles) to the Bavarian town of Chieming. There they tried to force him to transfer large sums of money to them. The banker tried to escape but suffered two broken ribs from one of those charged, a 74-year-old man. In one remittance order the banker included the message "Sell 100 Call Pol.ICE today please!." A bank employee notified police and the banker was freed by an elite commando group. The 74-year-old man charged with being the ringleader denied kidnapping. He said they had invited the man for a "few days holiday in Bavaria." Defence attorney Harald Baumgaertl told ARD television it was an act of desperation. "They feared there was no legal way to get their money back and so they did what one should not do -- committed a crime." Prosecutors in the Bavarian town of Traunstein have charged the senior citizens -- aged 60 to 79 -- with kidnapping and complicity. They face jail terms of 5 to 15 years if convicted, state prosecutor Guenther Hammerdinger told ARD television. (Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Ralph Boulton) |
| Posted by:YourExesinTexas9747 |
| #2 They needed an elite commando group to overwhelm a bunch of broke retirees? I doubt they could get a conviction in front of an American jury. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-02-08 19:46 |
| #1 You go, Grandpaw! :-D |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-02-08 19:04 |