Man Robs Bank To Bail Girlfriend Out Of Jail: Robert Phillip Rivas Arrested After Robbing Bank For Bail Money
From the archive: published May 18, 2015, 11 years ago. Details may have changed since.
In what some might call a valiant effort, a man allegedly robbed a bank in order to get the money he needed to bail his girlfriend out of jail. Robert Phillip Rivas held up staff at a Utah Community Credit Union in Pleasant Grove so he could get the money he needed to get the woman he loved out of jail. She was locked up on drug charges, KSL reports.
Rivas, 26, put on a fake mustache and hat when he robbed the credit union on May 4. He had a friend join him in the plot — Armando Jesse Amriz, 28. He also had on a fake wig, beard, and donned an orange construction vest to his disguise.
Rivas and Amriz made off with a load of cash after the heist. Police arrested Rivas after he was caught walking past a police station still in disguise. The cash he’d stolen was used to free his girlfriend from jail, but he wound up being detained.
Lt. Britt Smith said it was obvious who the robbery suspect was when he walked right by police.
“The bank they robbed was just a couple of blocks away from the police department and he was walking toward the police department wearing an obvious disguise, so officers responding from the police department to the bank passed by him first. Obviously he stood out like a sore thumb wearing a wig, fake beard and fake eyebrows.”
Rivas, meanwhile, was able to use the cash to set his lover free. But he was also later detained.
According to ABC 4 Utah, the man who robbed the bank to bail out his girlfriend — and his accomplice — were charged with felony robbery and obstruction of justice. Rivas was arrested Monday immediately following the robbery while Amriz was arrested on Thursday after police found him.
The robbery happened around 3:30 p.m. at the Utah Community Credit Union located on 105 E. State Street, according to Pleasant Grove Police Department.
What made the case unique is that the man who robbed the bank for his girlfriend’s bail money was captured before a description of him was released to authorities.
Rivas’ girlfriend hasn’t been identified because she’s being named as a witness in her boyfriend’s arrest. She’s no longer in police custody, however.
“I don’t know what her plans are now that (Rivas) is looking at some prison time,” said Lt. Britt Smith.
Robert Phillip Rivas is from Salt Lake City and Armando Jesse Amriz is from Taylorsville.