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So long, robbers, and thanks for all the dumbness

The Snowboard Bandits, who we wrote about last year, terrorized Front Range banks in 2007 and 2008. They were clever enough to disguise themselves in full-body snowboarder gear, but made a slip-up or two once the heists were over -- like, for example, trying to launder the money by actually...
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The Snowboard Bandits, who we wrote about last year, terrorized Front Range banks in 2007 and 2008. They were clever enough to disguise themselves in full-body snowboarder gear, but made a slip-up or two once the heists were over -- like, for example, trying to launder the money by actually washing it at a laundromat.

These antics, however, are nothing compared to the mythical bungling of Colorado's original après ski bandits, the "Dumb and Dumber" robbers: Luke Carroll and Anthony Prince, two Australians got busted for holding up a Vail bank in 2005, who recently wrapped up their jail time (Carroll was freed and sent back to Australia last week, following in the wake of Prince, released in February).

Think the title "Dumb and Dumber" is a little harsh? Not after you hear about the incredible level of criminal stupidity these two reached, a series of bungles so epic it made international news.

Mistake number one was that neither of the two masked men bothered to disguise their Australian accents when they held up Vails' WestStar Bank for $130,000 -- since Vail isn't exactly crawling with Aussies. But if that wasn't enough to give them away, there was the fact that they were wearing their name tags from the ski shop they were working at. Whoops.

Then they made their getaway. In a chair lift. Using their easily traceable ski passes. Somehow, the duo actually made it to Denver International Airport the next day -- but were apprehended while trying to fly to Mexico. How'd the cops know what they looked like? From mug shots that the two had acquired when they were arrested in Vail a few months earlier for shooting out windows with a paintball gun.

And just to make sure they made law enforcement's job as easy as possible, prior to being arrested, the two took sweet-ass photos of themselves in the airport bathroom (see above) -- holding wads of stolen cash.

Now the two are back to their home turf -- leaving only one question remaining: Which part of their heist was dumb, and which part was dumber?

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