Two Thursdays ago James Richard Verone of Gaston County, NC woke up with sole intention of robbing a bank. Is Verone just another nefarious malcontent thumbing his nose at the hardworking men and women of America as he tries to cheat his way to wealth? No, rather he is something of a poster boy for the connection between poverty and crime. He only attempted to rob the bank of $1 and all he actualy wanted was to be able to see a doctor about his many physical ailments.
Before deciding to rob a local branch of the RBC bank, Verone had never had a run in with the law. In fact, he was a quintessential “working man,” during his 17 years working as a Coca-cola delivery man he’d mostly kept to himself, according to the 59 year old he’d preferred to focus on doing a good job than making enemies or getting involved in workplace politics. But when Verone was laid off from his job delivering sugary beverages things went continually from bad to worse.
He managed to land a new job driving a truck for a different company, but that job soon also let him go also. He burned through his savings while searching for a job, any job, and eventually found part-time employment as a convenience store clerk. Obviously this kind of job isn’t ideal for a man in his late 50’s and during the physically straining work his many health problems came to the fore. He had back problems, a problem with his foot caused him to limp all the time, his hands ached with arthritis and carpal tunnel. When Verone noticed a strange protrusion forming on his chest he decided he needed to seek professional medical help
Seeing as convenience store jobs don’t typically come with benefits, Verone explored alternate means of paying for the healthcare he so desperately needed. He filed for disability and early social security but was denied both, the only thing he qualified for was food stamps. Facing rock bottom, Verone finally decided that he could really do worse than to get himself locked up and be provided with care as an inmate of the US prison system. However, being a rather quiet kind of bloke his entire life Verone didn’t want to cause anyone too much trouble in his quest to be incarcerated. On that fateful Thursday, June 9th, Verone walked into that RBC bank unarmed and passed the teller a note simply asking for one US dollar and healthcare. He then informed the teller that he “would sit over here and wait for police.”
As of last Thursday, Verone is behind bars at the Gaston County Jail awaiting trial. He plans to represent himself in court and had expected to be charged with bank robbery but because he only demanded a single dollar the charge is officially larceny from a person; it is still a felony but comes typically with a sentence of only a few years in prison. Verone doesn’t seem too concerned over what impact a felony conviction will have on his job prospects because, as he rightly points out, he cannot work anymore anyway and the available jobs that are out there are what drove him to rob a bank in the first place. When faced with the desperate poverty facing all too many American workers these days, when presented with the choice of being a free-citizen of the working class in the United States and being a prison inmate, Verone, in his own words, “picked jail.”
What Verone is articulating is the very real connection between crime and poverty; when the most impoverished, marginalized members of society weigh their life as it currently stands against the consequences of committing crimes to try and save themselves from crushing poverty the fact of the matter is that even if they get caught in their crimes it might well still be a better choice for them in the end.
