A Texas man who was scheduled to get hitched last Saturday instead found himself handcuffed on robbery charges, after he allegedly held up a bank to pay for the wedding.
Authorities credited the man’s fiancé with helping them bring him to justice after she recognized his face from security footage of the robbery.
“She convinced him that she knew it was him, his picture was all on Facebook (and) he needed to turn himself in,” Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace said in a Facebook Live update on Friday afternoon. He added that the woman also reported him to police just a day before their wedding.
Heath Edward Bumpous was arrested that same day and now faces one charge of aggravated robbery. He is accused of holding up Citizens State Bank in Groveton, Texas, and making off with an undisclosed amount of cash shortly before noon on Friday.
Wallace says the suspect provided a “full confession” and that most of the stolen money has been recovered.
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“He basically stated that he was getting married tomorrow,” Wallace said. “He didn’t have enough money for a wedding ring that he wanted to buy and he needed to pay for the wedding venue, so apparently that’s what the robbery was for … to pay for him to get married.”
The suspect turned himself in at a courthouse within two hours of the robbery, Wallace said.
He applauded his Facebook audience with helping secure a quick arrest in the case.
“Thanks for sharing the Facebook information,” Wallace said. “That proves to us that it works and it works fast.”
The couple’s wedding plans are unclear at this point.
However, the suspect’s fiancé posted a hopeful message on her Facebook page Monday.
“Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, a mind that forgets the bad and a soul that never loses faith in God,” the message read.
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