Photograph was edited for publication purposes. Thomas Loritz, a former Marine, was held on bank robbery charges after he and his wife, June, "borrowed" a four-year-old boy to use as a shield. On November 20, 1944, telling the boy's mother they were taking him for ice cream, they went to the California Bank on Wilshire Boulevard. Loritz handed a bank teller a note demanding money at gunpoint or else she and the child would die. They got away with $3000. The child's mother wrote down the license plate of their car and notified police after the boy told her what happened. The couple later pleaded guilty. First photograph caption dated December 1, 1944 reads "Held in 'borrowed tot' bank holdup." Loritz is pictured sitting on a floor.; Second photograph caption dated February 14, 1945 reads "Thomas Loritz pleads guilty to robbery."
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;26 x 21 cm. Photographic prints
Criminals--California--Los Angeles Crime--California--Los Angeles Bank robberies--California--Los Angeles Robbery--California--Los Angeles Men--California--Los Angeles Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express photographs Herald-Examiner Collection photographs
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