On August 12th, 23-year-old Brian Randolph walked into Vibe Credit Union in South Lyon wearing glasses and a baseball cap. He walked up to a teller and handed her a note, saying that he had a shotgun and wanted $20,000 in cash. She complied, which she is trained to do, giving him all of the money in her till. Randolph walked out with $8,173 in cash.
Just two days later, the Oakland County Violent Crime Task Force arrested him. At the time of his arrest, Randolph was driving a rental car, wearing designer clothes, and carrying $3,000 in cash. He had no gun with him, and police have yet to find one.
According to his family, Randolph robbed the bank to get the money the family needed to pay for chemotherapy for Randolph’s 1-year-old daughter. The little girl is apparently battling retinoblastoma, rare form of malignant cancer that develops as a tumor on the retina. It more commonly affects young children.
Why was Randolph driving new car and wearing expensive clothes
Apparently the family recently lost their health insurance, making the necessary treatments impossible for the family to pay for. But the police aren’t buying it. If the bank robbery was done in order to pay for the toddler’s cancer treatments, they ask, why was Randolph driving a new rental car and wearing such expensive new clothes?
In a recent interview on television, Lt. Chris Sovik of the South Lyon Police Department said that he completely understood Randolph’s motivation for the bank robbery. After all, he is a parent himself. “But if all this was supposed to go towards the child’s care, why is he is spending money on nice things for himself?”
And that is the question that the prosecution is likely to ask when Randolph appears in the Oakland County District Court for his next hearing. Randolph is currently in jail on a $500,000 bond. He has been charged with Robbery of a Banking Institution, which under Michigan law is a life sentence if convicted.