But the ordeal was no joke for teller Jessica Gunther -- and now that one of the criminal mustardminds is trying to cash in with a book about the case, Gunther is fighting back on YouTube.
Aussies Luke Carroll, nineteen, and Anthony Prince, twenty, used BB guns for the job and their snowboards to escape after knocking off a Vail Village bank for $132,000. They attempted to flee to Mexico but were caught at Denver International Airport and sentenced to federal prison. However, Prince was released from prison last year and has since starred in an Australian documentary about the caper and published a book, Bank Robbery for Beginners: A Story of Criminal Stupidity and Its Very Serious Consequences.
Gunther, who has described the robbery as a terrifying, life-changing experience -- no one in the bank knew the guns weren't real -- publicly forgave Prince for the crime and appeared in the documentary. But then she came across an excerpt of Prince's book online titled "Holding a gun at a girl who looked like my sister" and was horrified at his detailed description of her emotional turmoil during the robbery.
"I feel almost like I did the day it happened," Gunther said in an interview with the Colorado Independent. "For him to publish such personal details about my horrifying experience in his words... is a huge slap in the face."
Gunther, who no longer works in Vail or in the banking industry, elaborates further in an eloquent YouTube epistle denouncing Prince and his book. "Hearing my story from his mouth makes me feel extremely violated," she says. "To say I'm really disappointed in Anthony is an understatement. I'm pretty mad."
Look below to watch Gunther's entire statement.
From our Follow That Story archive, a post about a different criminal with a Vail connection: "Snowboard Bandit sentenced to prison."
