Man robbed bank claiming ‘it was art’ and filmed the whole thing

A man who got caught robbing a bank tried to get out of a punishment by claiming ‘it was art’.

Back in 2015, former MIT professor Joseph Gibbons was nabbed by police after robbing $1,000 from a New York bank on New Year’s Eve, 2014.

He’d walked up to the counter and handed bank staff a note saying: “THIS IS A ROBBERY. LARGE BILLS. NO DYE PACKS / NO GPS.”

However, it seems as though the bank staff didn’t follow his instructions because they also gave him a dye pack that burst as he attempted to escape which smeared him in incriminating ink.

Not that officials would have needed it to identify him, since Gibbons filmed the robbery himself in addition to being caught on the bank’s CCTV cameras.

He robbed banks and claimed it was ‘art’ (Facebook/Joe Gibbons)

Much like us, you’re probably wondering what the hell is going on. The story continues.

When police received a tip-off several days later that Gibbons was staying in a hotel near the bank he robbed, they recognised it was him because they found a camera in the room which matched the one the bank robber was holding.

His reason for robbing the bank? According to The Guardian, the man himself said it was an act of ‘performance art‘, and also financial need.

Gibbons’ cell mate told the New York Post that he had been ‘doing research for a film’.

Despite these claims, Gibbons was hit with the rather real charges of third-degree robbery, fourth-degree grand larceny, and fourth-degree possession of stolen property.

Even though he’d claimed that his bank robbery was an act of artistic nature, he was advised to strike a plea deal where he copped to the first charge and received a sentence of one year behind bars.

He handed over a note saying ‘THIS IS A ROBBERY’ (NYPD)

Gibbons accepted the plea deal, and was not charged for the other bank robbery.

He told the New York Post it was ‘upsetting’ to him that the bank teller in the November robbery seemed ‘really upset’ at the note he handed over, saying he’d tried to make it funny, while the New York bank staff were ‘unflappable’ to the point he thought they were pressing a silent alarm.

Gibbons said: “What got me over the final hurdle was the desperation of not having any money and not having a place to stay, not having anything to eat, that’s what gave me the final desperation to do it.

“I was filming while I was running down Grand Street into the subway. I felt the dye pack go off while I was running, but I wanted to keep it because I thought it would make a great souvenir.

“It was one of my former students who turned me in. He was worried about me.”

And rightly so.