Valley State Bank employees werent about to let Dishonest Abe get away with robbing them a second time.
And so they set a trap for the man almost as soon as he set foot in the Roeland Park (Kansas City, Missouri) bank about 2 p.m. Thursday wearing a long fake beard the same disguise a robber used in holding up the bank last year.
The bank president's son, police said, locked the exit and prepared to pounce, literally, to keep his father from suffering a second robbery loss.
Investigators think the robber has held up six other banks in Johnson County since August.
The quick move led to the arrest of a 47-year-old Kansas City, Kan., man.
"I can't say this is the same guy," FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton said, "but he came in wearing the same disguise that Dishonest Abe wore."
Investigators do not think the robberies are linked to the 2003 murder at the Westwood Apple Market in which the killer was dressed as Abraham Lincoln or an Amish man.
With the bank door locked, an employee hit a hold-up alarm as the robber was ordering a teller to fill an accordion envelope with cash Dishonest Abe's standard procedure.
Police Chief Rex Taylor and two officers rushed to the bank, just a block from the police station.
The robber made for the exit unaware of his predicament.
"He did get cash, but he didn't get out of the bank," Patton said.
The bank president's son tackled the robber, investigators said.
Police found the man being held for them near the door.
"He was down on the ground pretty well resigned to what was going on," Taylor said.
The man was in federal custody Thursday night while investigators prepared reports for prosecutors.
