Man robs bank for $1 and free healthcare

[naterator]

Essentially, a 59 year old North Carolina man loses job, then develops health problems. Resulting in:

A couple of months ago Verone started weighing his options.

He considered turning to a homeless shelter and seeking medical help through charitable organizations.

Then he had another idea: commit a crime and get set up with a place to stay, food and doctors.

He started planning.

As his bank account depleted and the day of execution got closer, Verone sold and donated his furniture. He paid his last month’s rent and gave his notice.

He moved into the Hampton Inn for the last couple of days. Then on June 9 he followed his typical morning routine of getting ready for the day.

He took a cab down New Hope Road and picked a bank at random — RBC Bank.

Verone didn’t want to scare anyone. He executed the robbery the most passive way he knew how.

He handed the teller a note demanding one dollar, and medical attention.

“I didn’t have any fears,” said Verone. “I told the teller that I would sit over here and wait for police.”

Full Story

Because he only demanded $1, he's being charged with felony larceny from a person. He says that if he isn't sent to prison, he will do it again.

What would you do with this guy? Do you jail him? Not much of a punishment, as his plan is to go to jail for a few years to get treatment and then "get out in time to collect Social Security and move to the beach."
Do you send him away? It would prevent others from doing this. He says he'll keep doing it until they jail him.

Perhaps more important, how screwed up is it that this seems to be his only option? Was it his only option? (Not counting the "crippling debt until death" option) It doesn't get into too much detail on the "charitable options", just that he considered them. I really wonder how much effort he expended on those before 'getting another idea'.

 

[holy king]

heil freedom.

 

[Cheetah]

Seems to me that he's being completely rational. If the choice is between a homeless shelter and prison, then the choice is essentially about trading the freedom to go outside with the right to free food and medical attention.

He's 59. If he doesn't have any plans to retire in a foreign country, or running for president or something, a criminal record really won't hurt him much.

Of course, living of social security isn't much of a life, but if he's already depleted his life savings, then there's not much to do about that.

He found a loophole in the system. You should be proud of him!

But yeah, that this is his best option does say a few things about society...

 

[Godwynn]

We need to take medical care away from prisoners to discourage this kind of behavior.

 

[LucyDuke]

What would you do with this guy?

Give him some friggin health care.

 

[Dreadnought]

O. Henry, anyone?

 

[GoodSarmatian]

We need to take medical care away from prisoners to discourage this kind of behavior.

Absolutely.
What your country needs is labor camps.

 

[tycoonist]

Wouldn't happen if you had sensible healthcare...

 

[Ajidica]

Wouldn't happen if you had sensible healthcare...

But if we had sensible healthcare, this man would not be able to choose his own doctor and would be the victim of health care rationing!

 

[amadeus]

If he robbed the bank for crack money, would we be hearing calls for socialized narcotics?

 

[tycoonist]

But if we had sensible healthcare, this man would not be able to choose his own doctor and would be the victim of health care rationing!

And he'd probably die anyway! Death panels, duh!

If he robbed the bank for crack money, would we be hearing calls for socialized narcotics?

Calls for government funded rehab, yeah you would.

 

[Zelig]

If he robbed the bank for crack money, would we be hearing calls for socialized narcotics?

Safe injection sites are pretty well accepted as being a Good Thing if you look at their data.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

If he robbed the bank for crack money, would we be hearing calls for socialized narcotics?

The solution would still be labor camps.
Láo​gǎi [劳改 (reformation through labor)] is a standard method of punishment/rehabilitation for junkies in China.
And kudos for equating drug addiction and healthcare

 

[Godwynn]

Absolutely.
What your country needs is labor camps.

That would solve our unemployment problem too.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

That would solve our unemployment problem too.

Not only that.
Social security too !

 

[Tristan_C]

I'm over a year late on this, but I'm not interested in seeing Congress pass an insolvent medical reform package that doesn't address the basis for medicine's high cost. For starters, if people had to pay out-of-pocket for routine services and products rather than use insurance, and if liabilities were reduced, the price for these routine things would drastically fall.

 

[GoodGame]

heil freedom.

Good point. He's trading freedom for healthcare. Better to live free or die?

 

[holy king]

no, he stands where he stands because in the usa you have the great freedom to choose your doctor according to your income.

 

[Leonel]

Nono you guys don't understand! America has the best healthcare system in the world! There is already basic coverage!

 

[amadeus]

Okay, let's say we had socialized health care today. He'd still have no income to pay his rent, pay his utility bills, buy food, or pay for bus fare.

Of course, the chorus will always be the same: take it from someone else and give it to him. Give him a house, pay his electric bill, buy him some food, and feed more subsidies into the bus system. And even then it won't be enough.

No. Screw him. There are millions of people around the world who would kill (and probably have) to be in his position.