A 78-year-old Missouri woman is facing charges after allegedly holding up a bank with a note reading “I didn’t mean to scare you,” according to police.

Bonnie Gooch was charged with one count of stealing or attempting to steal from a financial institution after Wednesday’s heist at Goppert Financial Bank in Pleasant Hill, about 35 miles southeast of Kansas City.

According to police, Gooch walked into the bank around 3:20 p.m. wearing a black N95 mask, sunglasses and plastic gloves and handed the teller a note that demanded “13,000 small bills” and a second note reading, “thank you sorry I didn’t mean to scare you” before she made her getaway.

Cass County prosecutors said surveillance video from the bank showed Gooch banging on the counter and telling the banker to hurry.

Police pulled her over in a Buick Enclave about 2 miles away with cash strewn around the car’s floor. She allegedly smelled strongly of alcohol, but was not hit with any booze-related charges.

“When officers first approached her, they were kind of confused ... It’s a little old lady who steps out,” Pleasant Hill Police Chief Tommy Wright told the Kansas City Star. “We weren’t sure initially that we had the right person.”

He added that he’d never seen a robbery suspect her age in his three decades of police work.

“We’re working with agencies to figure out what the next steps are,” Wright said. “It’s just sad.”

Gooch has two previous bank robbery convictions, according to records: one in California in 1977 and one in Lee’s Summit, another Kansas City suburb, in 2020, her probation for which ended in November 2021.

Gooch is being held on $25,000 bond at a Cass County detention center.

With News Wire Services