By Tim Binnall
A Maryland man attempted to rob a bank with a rather unlikely 'accomplice:' a kitten he had just stolen from a pet store moments earlier. According to a local media report, the bizarre incident occurred on Monday afternoon when the unnamed suspect visited a Pet Supplies Plus in the community of Beltsville and made a beeline for the shop's animal adoption area. The sticky-fingered miscreant subsequently snatched a kitten, named Magnolia, and quickly dashed off in the direction of a nearby bank. But that was only the beginning of a very weird afternoon for workers at the plaza.
Shortly after the thief fled the scene, police swarmed the shopping center to the understandable confusion of a local cat rescue group representative who was called to the shop by employees concerned about the pilfered feline. Upon arriving at the scene, Stephanie Stullich recalled, she "immediately saw all of these police cars, and I thought, 'Wow, that's a heck of a response for a stolen cat,’ but then I realized they all were going down to the bank." After police busted the would-be bank robber, they emerged from the building and confirmed that, indeed, the man was the same individual who had made off with Magnolia.
"Apparently he went into the bank with the cat in his arms," Stullich explained, "and he walked up to a bank employee and said, ‘Can you hold this?’ And then he wrote a note and handed it to a bank teller, and it said, essentially, give me all your cash." It is uncertain what specific charges the man might face for the curious caper, though one imagines that the alleged cat theft may be the least of his concerns. As for Magnolia, the feline fortunately managed to come out of the caper unscathed, but still hopes to find her forever home. Ideally, Stullich said, the cat will be taken in by "a law-abiding citizen with a lot of love in their heart."