Czech robs bank to pay off debt, then turns himself in

A Czech man was so intent on doing right by his lenders that he robbed a bank, before turning himself into the police to pay off his debt to society. The 48-year-old stole tens of thousands of koruna (hundreds of euros, dollars) from a bank in a Prague suburb, police spokesman Tomas Hulan told AFP. He walked into the bank on Monday, dressed normally and without a mask, and patiently waited in line before showing the teller a piece of paper saying he had a pistol in his briefcase. "Ten minutes later, he called (the police emergency hotline) 158 to confess what he had done and promise to turn himself in, which he did the next evening," Hulan said. The first-time offender told police he had wanted to pay off a loan from "some nice people" who had helped him after he was robbed. "The man was an upstanding citizen till now. That's why he remains a free man while we conduct our probe," Hulan said, adding the man faced up to 10 years in jail.