WASHINGTON -- These bank tellers probably did not have such "nice" days.
A Maryland bank robber who told victims to "have a nice day" once he was done taking their money was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Thursday.
William Alexander Norbeck robbed two Maryland M&T banks a total of five times between March 23, 2011, and August 23, 2011.
Not so friendly: Norbeck covered his face -- sometimes with pantyhose, sometimes using a neoprene mask -- during the robberies, and during at least one he carried a "12-gauge pump action shotgun, which he had recently acquired from a pawn shop in Glen Burnie, Md.," according to the Department of Justice's media release detailing Norbeck's crime spree.
What makes Norbeck's adventures stand out is the pleasant words he spoke while taking the cash -- $30,500 in total, which he's been ordered to repay in restitution.
“Thank you, have a nice day," is what he said while on his way out the door of the first robbery, which caused six local schools to be put on lockdown, according to DOJ's press release. (The DOJ release specifies that Norbeck either used those exact polite words, or polite "words to that effect.")
Norbeck apologized for the lockdown during the second robbery, of the same bank, about two weeks later. During that second robbery, Norbeck said something along the lines of "Sorry about last time," per the DOJ media release, and assured bank tellers that there wouldn't be a second lockdown.
On his way out the door that time Norbeck said, perhaps ironically, "You ladies have a nice day.”
DOJ did not say if Norbeck continued being affable while committing his third or fourth bank robberies -- though he did tell a teller during the third robbery that he did not want to use his gun on her, which could be taken as polite. It seems clear that by the fifth and final robbery Norbert was no longer issuing any pleasantries.
Says DOJ in its media release, Norbeck "announced that he had a gun and swung his jacket open to reveal a handgun in a holster on his right hip," before fleeing with $9,908 that he was caught with -- along with a disguise and a pellet gun that looks like a semi-automatic handgun -- not much later.