MOM ROBS BANK TO PAY FOR TEEN’S SCHOOL TRIP

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Lots of parents hate raising money for their kids’ school activities, but Gwen Sherbondy went to extremes.

She robbed a bank to pay for her daughter’s senior class trip!

“It sounds incredible, but it’s true,” said Lt. Pat Smith of the Coquille, Ore., Police Department. “I knew her because my son was in the same year as her daughter. I saw her at the basketball, baseball and football games. We were on a first-name basis.

“Then I saw her picture on a law enforcement Internet system robbing a bank – and I recognized her and her vehicle immediately. I couldn’t believe it!”

Lt. Smith alerted the FBI, and three days later they searched Gwen’s home and Jeep. They turned up a black beanie-style cap and a pullover matching those worn by the bank robber the FBI had dubbed the “Wrangler Bandit” because of the distinctive green Jeep she drove.

On Oct. 20, the sports mom pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in mid-January.

Problems began brewing after Gwen had been put in charge of collecting donations to help her daughter’s senior class at Coquille High School pay for a graduation trip.

Vendors started complaining they weren’t getting paid, and the school superintendent wrote Gwen a letter Feb. 10 saying that if she hadn’t paid the vendors by Feb. 20, she was going to the police.

So Gwen literally took matters into her own hands. On the morning of Feb. 24, according to the FBI, Gwen walked into the Wells Fargo bank in Roseburg, about 85 miles away, wearing a black skull cap and purple pullover.

She took a seat at a counter for disabled customers and slid a note to a teller demanding money. The teller put cash from a top drawer on the counter.

“And the second drawer, too,” demanded Gwen. The desperate mom stashed $7,992 in her brown purse and fled.

Later that day, the school superintendent got a fax from Gwen with a copy of two cashier’s checks made out to the vendors.

Happily, despite Gwen’s arrest, the kids were able to go ahead with their class trip.

Bighearted merchants and parents collected money so the senior class could visit an amusement park and have a dinner party.