Criminal In TrainingSituation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.
A man went to a drive through of a bank with his mind set on robbing it. When he pulled up to the window he put a note in the box and sent it to the teller. The note read,
"I have a gun and I am a very dangerous man, if you quietly cooperate I will not shoot. If you don't I will kill you and the teller next to you. Fill a money bag with as many one hundred dollar bills from the safe as you can fit and bring it back to me quickly."
The teller nodded, did as the man asked and the man drove quickly away. When the man drove several blocks out of harm's way, far away from the crime scene, he got out of his car, took the false license plate off and placed the legitimate one back on - so he could not be traced. He threw the false tag and fake gun in the dumpster and headed home. Feeling like he was invincible and could get away with anything, he took a quick peek at his goods - nothing was inside but a bunch of wadded up tissues to give the bag a nice bulge. The man was absolutely beside himself with shock. He considered going back to the bank, but decided it was best not to as the police were probably swarming. So after disposing of the money bag he decided to just head home. Upon arrival at his house he was greeted by 6 police cars and 3 Sheriff cars. He knew there was no way for them to have traced him, so he pulled up into his driveway and got out nonchalantly.
"Hello, officers. What's going on? This is usually a quiet neighborhood. Need my help with anything?" An officer approached the man and said "Yes sir, I was wondering if I could see your I.D.?" The man saw no problem and politely handed it over. After glancing at the man's I.D. the officer read him his Miranda Rights and arrested him.
Now, if the man threw away all evidence connecting him to the bank robbery, how was the officer so sure it was him, and how did they know where to find him?
HintThe man got rid of all the evidence, but left something a bit valuable to his act at the scene.
AnswerWhen the man wrote the note to the teller giving her the instructions, he stupidly wrote it on the back of his own bank statement from another local bank. The officers thought it best to check it out (even though they could not imagine someone being so careless) and got his information from the other bank. They were able to get his name, his address, and his SS#. They drove to the address that was listed on the account and waited for the owner to arrive. When he finally showed up the officer asked to see his I.D. to see if the name and address added up. They did. That was enough evidence for the officer to arrest him.
In case you were wondering: the teller at the bank knew the man would be in a hurry and would not have time to check the bag, as he would probably assume she hit the silent alarm - which she did. The man stupidly asked her to go to the safe specifically (even though they have the money in front of them in a register at the window, so they don't have to run back and forth to the safe). The teller got smart and instead of going to the safe, she had the perfect opportunity to go to the ladies' room to get some tissue to fill the bag, give it a bulge, and hit the silent alarm. Needless to say, she got an award from the police department for her quick wit, and the Employee Of The Month award at the bank.
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