German Bank Robber Caught After Taunting Police via Email

German police managed to arrest a bank robber after he emailed back in order to correct factual errors in the public report about the incident and the description released to the media.

On August 10 a man with sunglasses and a cap entered a bank office in Röttingen, Bavaria, threatened the teller with a knife and left with €2,500.

The whole incident was captured by a security camera and police subsequently released the following description of the offender: "Male, between 180 and 185 cm in height, aged 20 to 25, with short, dark hair. The man spoke with a southern Bavarian German accent."

The police also mentioned that the assailant left on foot, an inaccuracy which apparently bothered the robber so much that he felt the need to email back and set things straight.

The message was sent seven days after the incident to the Bavarian Police as well as German newspaper Bild and came from an raeuber.von.roettingen@web.de (robber.from.roettingen@web.de) email address.

The robber was so confident that he can't be caught that not only did he provide his accurate description, 19-year-old, 193 cm tall and born in Württemberg, but also gave police hints about his current whereabouts.

In addition, he pointed out that he did not flee on foot, but in a car and passed through the police barrier.

He went on to describe the getaway vehicle in detail and revealed that he left it in the train station's parking garage, before boarding the ICE to Hamburg.

This information and a trace of the email led police to David P. (19) from Künzelsau, who was arrested a few hours later on a street in Hamburg's red-light district.

This is not the first time when criminals expose themselves with the help of technology. Back in December, we reported the case of a Philadelphia armed robbery suspect, who turned himself in after a picture he took of himself with the stolen iPhone was automatically uploaded to his victim's remote photo-storage account.