- Earl Edwin Austin
Earl Edwin Austin was an American criminal and bank robber who had been listed on the
FBI 's "Ten Most Wanted" list during the 1970s.Born in
Tacoma Park, Maryland , Austin had been a career criminal for much of his adult life serving sentences forgrand larceny ,forgery ,aggravated assault , escaping prison and, most notably, threatening the President of the United States when Austin sent a threatening letter to then-PresidentLyndon Johnson as an inmate at theIdaho State Penitentiary (which would result in an additional five years to his sentence).In February 1979, although having a history of attempted prison escapes and repeated altercations with police officers, Austin won parole from prison in
Kansas City, Missouri and, upon his release, immediately headed south with the intentions of beginning a crime spree where, onFebruary 28 , Austin robbed a bank inHouston, Texas of $60,000.By mid-July, Austin had raided a series of banks throughout the Southeast from
Kentucky toFlorida when federal authorities, who had previously charged Austin with bank robbery and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, officially added Austin to the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted List" onOctober 12 .After a five-month long federal investigation, Austin was eventually traced to a rented apartment in
Tucson, Arizona where Austin was arrested by federal agents onMarch 1 ,1980 . At the time of his arrest, Austin had a loaded pistol as well as $10,000 in his possession (a small amount of money from the Houston robbery had been marked, allowing Austin to be connected directly to the crime). Austin, charged with three counts of his three known robberies, was held in custody in lieu of a $35,000 bond before his eventual conviction and imprisonment.References
*Newton, Michael. "Encyclopedia of Robbers, Heists, and Capers". New York: Facts On File Inc., 2002.
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