Wife Says She Robbed 5 Banks to Pay Mortgage

A wife and mother with no criminal record told investigators she robbed five banks of $5,500 with a toy gun to save her house from foreclosure and to buy food and Christmas gifts.

Lisa M. Dressel, 32, was arrested Jan. 8 and pleaded not guilty this week to a charge of bank robbery. More charges are expected in the other holdups.

Dressel and her husband, Mike, who have a young son, were $6,000 behind on their mortgage payments, according to court papers. The house was scheduled for foreclosure Jan. 9, the day after three of the robberies.

“She said she was desperate to make that deadline,” federal prosecutor Thomas Hopkins said.

The home was auctioned off the day after her arrest, but the mortgage company that bought it sold it back to the couple for $89,600, said the husband’s lawyer, Robert Waldo.

The couple had faced possible eviction by the end of January despite having assets that included two vehicles and rental property estimated at $200,000, court documents showed.

The robberies began Dec. 15.

In the first holdup, Dressel told FBI agents she handed a teller a note demanding $20,000 and said she was armed. She did not display the toy gun.

Dressel earned money making crafts out of her home. She also took care of neighbors’ children. Her husband made about $1,500 a month, according to court papers, but it was unclear what he does for a living.

“Obviously, it’s a sad case,” said Dressel’s lawyer, Roger Peven. “When anybody like this is charged in this kind of situation, it’s sad.”

If convicted, Dressel could get 20 years in prison on the single bank robbery charge.