Bank robbers claim it’s college that’s highway robbery

CINCINNATI - Two college students say the high cost of tuition led them into a life of crime. It forced them to rob a bank.

It may sound like a new twist on “the dog ate my homework,” but they’re hoping it will get some sympathy. The two young men pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and kidnapping and are looking at up to 20 years in prison at their sentencing Dec. 27.

Andrew Butler, 20, of the University of Toledo, told Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Steve Martin Monday that tuition increases outpaced his scholarships and financial aid. Christopher Avery, 22, at the University of Cincinnati, said he couldn’t pay for summer classes after an internship at a grocery store fell through.


“I was strapped for cash,” Avery said. “I thought I had nothing to lose.”

Armed with guns and wearing masks, Butler and Avery made off with $130,000 from a crowded Valley Central Savings Bank in suburban Reading on July 17, said Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Brian Goodyear.

An attempt to rob a check-cashing business a day earlier was thwarted when the students couldn’t get through the business’ security system despite firing four shots at the bullet-resistant glass, Goodyear said.

The men were caught after trying to switch cars. A witness who thought they were acting suspiciously called the cops. Look for their education to continue at the School of Hard Knocks.