RV bandit, 75, sentenced to five years in prison for bank robbe

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A 75-year-old man was sentenced Friday to more than five years in prison for robbing a bank and using the money to buy a recreational vehicle.

George L. Curtis, of Independence, then used the RV to take his girlfriend and three of her relatives on a trip to Mount Rushmore, authorities said.

Curtis pleaded guilty in September to robbing Winterset State Bank in Harrisonville with a replica handgun on July 12, said U.S. Attorney Todd Graves.

Besides the five year and three month prison sentence, Curtis also was ordered Friday to pay full restitution to the bank and Trailside RV Center.

According to court documents, Curtis had a bank employee make out a $200,000 cashier's check payable to him. He then drove to the RV dealership in Grain Valley and tried to use the check to buy a 40-foot recreational vehicle he had picked out earlier in the week.

When the dealership wanted a check for the exact purchase price, Curtis and a dealership employee went to Curtis' Independence bank and had a cashier's check made out to the dealership for $166,165, prosecutors said.

He was arrested in Sioux Falls, S.D., on July 14 while on the vacation.