Man demands $50,000 from credit union after asking for snacks, feds say. He’s convicted
A 30-year-old Alaska man accused of walking into a credit union and presenting a note demanding $50,000 and “all your cash” has been convicted, federal prosecutors said.
Before Joseph Sledge showed up at the Anchorage credit union, he entered a nearby property management office and asked an employee for $20 and snacks, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska said in a news release.
A jury convicted Sledge on Nov. 15 of one count of credit union robbery.
His attorney couldn’t be reached by McClatchy News for comment.
Sledge is accused of walking into a Global Credit Union on Aug. 12 and tossing the demand note on the counter.
“The teller read the note multiple times and observed Sledge silently staring at him before he sent a message to his co-workers stating, ‘Code Red,’ which meant there was a robbery in progress,” prosecutors said.
The teller handed over $2,500, and Sledge took off with the money and note, prosecutors said.
He was wearing a face mask with a logo from Chugach Alaska Corporation, or CAC, an Alaska Native Regional Corporation, at the time of the robbery, court documents said.
Investigators shared photos from the robbery with CAC employees, according to prosecutors, and an employee recognized Sledge, saying he’d been at the office about 30 minutes before the robbery.
Before Sledge left CAC, “he took a number of free supplies in the office, including the same COVID mask worn in the still photos,” court documents said.
He’s then accused of going into the property management office on a different floor, seeking $20 and snacks. He also asked “if they were happy with their security,” prosecutors said.
Sledge then sat down at a coffee shop on the first floor of the building and fell asleep before being asked to leave by a security guard, prosecutors said.
His next stop was the credit union, prosecutors said.
Sledge was arrested on Aug. 16, wearing some of the same clothing he was pictured in during the robbery, according to court documents. He told police that the credit union gave him the money, arguing he didn’t rob it, documents said.
He is accused of giving the money to several different people.
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