Clark Kirkman mugshot
JEFFERSON CO. (Mt. Vernon), Ill.—A 72-year-old man’s alleged attempt to increase his income by visiting a bank with a note was brought to an abrupt end Friday in Mt. Vernon, Illinois after the old guy was observed switching license plates on his car from Texas.
Clark Kirkman was the guy in question, who caught the attention of shoppers at Times Square Mall in Mt. Vernon August 29 when they watched him back his car into a parking space, then proceed to switch an Illinois plate off a vehicle and replace the Texas plate on his car with it.
Authorities were notified, and detectives from the Mt. Vernon police department actually watched as Kirkman sat in his car and appeared to be writing out a note of some sort.
It wasn’t just any note; it was a bank robbery/holdup note, which the detectives quickly ascertained when they approached Kirkman in his vehicle.
They also soon learned that Kirkman is a federal felon, out on parole, for bank robbery…and is a suspect in a Chandler, Arizona, robbery one week earlier.
Why all the bank robberies lately? Who knows. Times are getting harder. Or maybe Kirkman liked it in federal lockup so much that he just wanted to get back; the FBI is investigating all these circumstances surrounding Kirkman, and locally, he’s been charged with Attempted Bank Robbery as well as felony Theft (the license plate). He’ll likely be extradited if Arizona authorities can pin that robbery on him…taking one more alleged lawbreaker off Illinoisans’ hands.