A toothless woman who robbed a Pennsylvania bank told police she needed the money to buy dentures.
Evelyn Marie Fuller, 49, of Carmichaels, a town in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania, confessed to robbing the First National Bank on January 20, Waynesburg Borough Chief of Police Timothy Hawfield told DrBicuspid.com.
The woman, who has mental problems and lives on disability, was partially identified through security photos from the bank that showed a woman who appeared not to have any teeth.
After she was arrested, Fuller said she had wanted to use the money to pay for dentures because she couldn't get them through the state's welfare program.
— Timothy Hawfield, Waynesburg
Borough police chief
"It could be seen as a sad story if those things are true," Hawfield said. "It's not a very good picture, but it's enough to see her chin was collapsing on her nose, and it appeared she didn't have any teeth."
After the photo was published in the local newspaper, a man went to the police and told them he had loaned Fuller the coat that the suspect in the picture was wearing. He told police she had returned the coat to him because it didn't have a zipper.
"That certainly narrowed our sights considerably," Hawfield noted.
He declined to say how much money was taken, but said the robber handed the bank teller a note requesting a specific amount. "It was very strange," Hawfield said.
Fuller allegedly used the money to pay a dentist or lab for a set of dentures.
Her plight reflects the ongoing struggle many Americans are having when it comes to affording medical and dental care in the current economy. In 2010, a desperate Pennsylvania man posted an ad on Craigslist looking for used dentures to replace his wife's broken set because they couldn't afford new ones.
The Pennsylvania Medicaid system limits coverage of dentures to one upper arch (full or partial denture), and one lower arch (full or partial denture) per lifetime.
Fuller had been living with a family who had allowed her to board in their trailer, but she was living with her daughter when she was arrested.
She remains in the Greene County Jail, unable to post the $75,000 bond.
At her arraignment, Fuller told a judge she has mental health problems and lives on disability benefits.
Hawfield noted that the bank teller, who is pregnant, had to be taken to the hospital because she was hyperventilating following the robbery.
"Fuller said she had a gun, so it's considered armed robbery," he noted.
