The penny hoarders
Clint Steele and his sister Bonny Steele’s criminal history began when they were children, stealing their parents’ change. Later, as teenagers, they rummaged through their father’s old coin collection and stole old “wheat” pennies. They stole all kinds of coins in and out of circulation, but as adults, they stole lowly pennies from banks.
They robbed a big truck from Brinks because they were on the run from stealing all the pennies from 35 local Nashville banks. They transported more than $10,000 worth of pennies from Nashville, Tennessee to Hilton Head, South Carolina. In Tennessee, they weren’t public enemies #1 and #2, because they only stole the lowest denomination coins from banks, but they had an unprecedented record for pennies stolen.
His criminal life in Hilton Head began immediately. When they arrived in Hilton Head, they forced a gas station attendant at gunpoint to give them “every penny” in change. It came as no surprise that his first Hilton Head heist began on March 30, “National Penny Day.” But later, they got careless by making too many tellers just give them pennies in return. Within a week, they were caught by bewildered police who couldn’t understand the brothers’ obsession with pennies, but they managed to get out for good behavior.
It was at this time that they began robbing banks in Hilton Head. However, they quickly became easy to spot, for they ran onto the pews wearing masks resembling Abraham Lincoln along with tall black hats on their heads. If that wasn’t enough verification, Clint and Bonny’s business card turned into “A Penny for Your Thoughts” as they held a gun to the cashier’s head.
Clint and Bonny were the butt of jokes among the Hilton Head police, such as: “They love their zinc pennies but hate their copper ones” or “They make a lot of (sense) pennies.” They may not have liked the police, but they never joked about the rumor that they melted down their copper coins to make copper bullets. That was another one of his crimes, as melting copper bullion coins was a federal offense. They were said to have copper fillings in their teeth. The duo then edited their “welcome” call to bank tellers, “Penny for your thoughts or I’ll copper you!”
The police managed to catch them during a high-speed chase that covered all the streets of Hilton Head. The two tried to escape on one of the bridges connecting the island to the mainland, but the police had already stopped them on the bridge. Clint and Bonny were forced out of their car and taken to jail.
A month later, the brother and sister were brought before the courts. Clint spoke for Bonny when she was asked how they pleaded: “Guilty, your honor.” His statement did not surprise the judge. What made him curious was why this brother and sister only stole pennies. So, he asked them, “Why steal only pennies?”
“When we were kids, we loved to collect coins, but we especially thought that the penny brought us good luck,” said Bonny. “We could have stolen nickels, dimes, or quarters, but being the humble folk that we are, the penny was as high a coin as we wanted. Copper and zinc rule!”
Bonny’s response surprised the judge; he just didn’t make any “penny”. Then, he looked at the two of them and hit his mallet as he told them to stand up. He proclaimed: “Clint and Bonny Steele: I am sentencing you both to hard labor in the copper and nickel mines from morning to noon. Then you will both go to prison coin club meetings where you will learn to appreciate learning about others”. types of coins.
They didn’t mind the hard work in the copper mines, but going to coin clubs was horrible, absolute torture for any human being. Clint yelled at the judge, “These coin club meetings are unfair.” Clint then frantically told Bonny, “Sister, we’re getting nickeled, decimated, and quartered.”
