Man, 77, Tells Why He Robbed a Bank

Seventy-seven-year-old Ray Lawrence Boeger said he had no plan to rob a bank until the “wild idea” gripped him as he sat in a Subway restaurant, and his gaze fell on a World Savings & Loan sign.

The idea was nourished by “64 ounces of English ale” just prior and a gripe session with buddies that afternoon about the challenges facing small business owners.

“I was feeling no pain,” Boeger said Friday. “I looked out the window and there it was, the bank. After talking to the guys about debt . . . well, I can’t explain it.”

Boeger says he has only partial memories of what happened next on Wednesday afternoon. Police say he donned a fake mustache and goatee and walked into the Huntington Beach bank with a semiautomatic handgun and a polite request for $2,500. As the robber slowly made his getaway, explosive packs in the money bag went off, scattering red dye and cash.

The stolen money was recovered from the bank parking lot and Boeger’s 1980 Cadillac, according to Huntington Beach Police Lt. Dan Johnson, who described the botched robbery as a “sad, half-hearted” crime.

“I didn’t get a dime of it,” Boeger said.

A federal magistrate released him on an unsecured $25,000 bond with orders that he return to court next month to enter a plea. If convicted, Boeger could face 25 years in prison.

Boeger was arrested Wednesday at his home on Meinhardt Road, about two hours after witnesses at the bank jotted down his license plate number, Johnson said. In interviews with investigators, he admitted the crime and cited his mounting debts and wife’s failing health as the cause of his actions.

Those motivations earned Boeger support from friends and strangers. Carole Merritt of Marina del Rey, for instance, said Friday that she was mailing a “small something” in the form of a check to the Boegers after reading about their financial situation.

“The story of this man just reached out to my heart,” she said. “He’s a bank robber, but he’s a gentle bank robber. . . . This is not a bad man. I have relatives in their 70s and God forbid they should ever be in need like this man. No one should ever get to 77 and go through this.”

But Friday, Boeger said it was the griping of a group of friends over too many drinks that got his mind thinking about banks and money woes. While Boeger said “money is tight” in his household, he says it was hearing about one friend’s failing business and another’s frustration with loan officers that prodded him to act.

The fake beard, he said, has been tucked into his car glove compartment since a Halloween party last year. He also said he always carries the .380 Colt Mustang for protection, but it was unloaded during the robbery.

“I just laid it down on the counter,” he said. “I told [the teller], ‘I’d like to cash a check but I don’t have an account. . . . All I remember is she handed me the money, and I said, ‘Thank you very much.’ ”

Boeger said he was touched by the support he has received from neighbors and old friends, and that he most regretted the “disappointment” of his wife, who suffers from severe hypertension and kidney ailments. He said he also plans to visit the bank to apologize to employees when he has permission from his attorney to do so.

As for prison, the Illinois native said he would serve any sentence he is given.

“I can handle anything,” he said.

Boeger was described Thursday in court by his attorney as a founder of Golden West College and a member of the Seal Beach Police Commission, assertions that were questioned by officials with the campus and city. On Friday, Boeger said he was actually a member of a citizen search committee that worked with the Huntington Beach campus and served as a member of the Seal Beach Planning Commission and civil service board.

Showing a plaque he received from Golden West College as the outstanding citizen of 1967, Boeger shook his head and said he had no way to explain how he found himself facing a felony charge after a law-abiding lifetime.

“I’m probably the most embarrassed man there is,” he said.