Robber, 81, banked on return to jail

PHOENIX — An 81-year-old man who has spent most of his adult life behind bars for stealing from banks said he robbed a credit union in Tucson just months after his release from prison because his monthly $800 Social Security payment wasn’t enough to live on, according to court records.

Robert Francis Krebs also told FBI agents that he didn’t wear a disguise to the January 2018 robbery because he “kind of wanted to get caught” and return to prison.

Details of the heist were revealed in court records filed June 7 over whether Krebs, who turns 82 next month, is mentally fit to stand trial.

His lawyers say Krebs (photo) has reported having symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, and a neuropsychologist concluded Krebs wasn’t competent to stand trial because he has dementia.

But two other mental health experts have said Krebs was competent and believed he was malingering, with one expert saying Krebs had “embellished or grossly exaggerated” his condition to avoid prosecution.

It’s now up to a judge to decide whether Krebs will head toward trial.

If found incompetent, Krebs could be sent to a facility in a bid to make him mentally fit. But if he can’t be restored to competency, his bank robbery charge could be dismissed, and he could be civilly committed, said Mike Black, a defense attorney in Phoenix who isn’t involved in the Krebs case.

It’s rare that charges are dropped because a defendant was found incompetent, Black said. “They never release them,” Black said.

In urging a judge to find Krebs competent, prosecutors said Krebs acknowledged to FBI agents that he carried out the robbery in Tucson because “$800 a month in Social Security is not very much to live on these days.”