Police Arrest Father & Son In Bank Robbery Spree
LAKEWOOD, Colo (CBS4) - A father and son are under arrest and accused of pulling off six bank robberies in the Denver metro area between February and October of this year.
They were dubbed the "5 O'clock Bandits" because of the facial hair.
Several pictures from various surveillance cameras were distributed by authorities. Someone recognized the pictures identifying them as Gerry Sevall and Drayse Ballard.
They are charged in connection with six bank robberies throughout the Front Range.
CBS4 went to the home where the father-step son team was arrested. There we met a woman who talked about her husband.
"The only reason why any of this happened is because he has a heroin addiction," she told CBS4 investigator Rick Sallinger.
"There's nothing, I have no insurance. I don't make enough to do that."
She said Sevall dragged her son into his problems.
Court documents claim Ballard acted as a getaway driver at the robberies getting $50 for some jobs.
The wife insisted, "My husband is not a criminal. He's an addict and needs serious help and there's nothing out there."
The bank robberies were not violent, but perhaps frightening for the tellers.
They would be handed notes. "One read, 'Sorry but my house is getting foreclosed so please give me 50's and 100's.'"
The woman now finds her husband and son in dire straits.
"I have lost my family. Everything is gone and I am just trying to keep it together," she said.
She says her husband's problems began with an addiction to painkillers, then that turned to heroin.
CBS4's Rick Sallinger is a Peabody award winning reporter who has been with the station more than two decades doing hard news and investigative reporting. Follow him on Twitter @ricksallinger.
