How I Almost Got Robbed: A Cautionary Tale...

Status
Not open for further replies.

The Professor

Member
Sep 22, 2015
55
0
6
I remain uncertain as to if I should've even posted this story or not, but maybe it can serve as a reminder to all those who probably don't need it; please be careful. I also find it a somewhat cathartic to write about a very real, though narrowly-averted danger that I faced.



I'm inclined to use the ATM at the Banco Popular branch across from Acropolis Mall in Evaristo Morales. I usually go when the bank is open, there are plenty of people around, and the security guard is present. However, one Saturday a few weeks back, the maid was getting off and needed to be paid. I agreed to drive her closer to where she takes the concho after stopping by the bank to get her money. On Saturday afternoon, the bank and office building are deserted, and the parking lot is closed. This requires parking on a side street and making a long trek across the lot to the vestibule where the ATM is located. I mean absolutely anyone and everyone can see someone doing this, as it's super conspicuous.

Once you're alone in the vestibule, you're completely isolated, and the nearest significant grouping of people would be across Churchill at the mall. To make a bad situation worse, my bank decided to block my card on this particular day, requiring me to receive and respond to a text message, which effectively extended the period of time that I was alone inside the bank.

Once I got the money, I started to separate what I owed the maid when I noticed a very thin, clean cut, Dominican man rapidly making his way across Churchill directly for the bank entrance. "Something" told me to just put the cash in my pocket and exit the bank before it was just him and me inside, I mean it was just a bad vibe. I exited the bank and started out towards my car before he entered. The man goes inside, then immediately popped back out and called to me, "Caballero!", as if to ask a question. I gave him a very hasty "lo siento, no hablo español", and kept it pushing towards my car. Could my terrible Spanish have saved my life?

When I got back in the car, the maid was freaking out about something, but again, my bad Spanish... However, what was abundantly clear is that she was trying to direct my attention to now a different man, sporting an "Afro Puff", sitting on a parked motorcycle 75' ahead of my car. Alas, I would have to wait for my girlfriend to talk to her on Monday to find out what it was all about.

As you more DR-Savvy readers have already figured out, on Monday, the maid reported that the two men rode up on the motorcycle together, Flaco then hops off, crosses Churchill, walks back down the block directly across from the bank entrance, then proceeds to cross back and enter the bank, just as your antisocial protagonist decides that he doesn't want any company and makes a beeline for his car. Interestingly enough, they originally parked right across from my car, but a security guard came out and instructed Afro Puff to keep it moving, making him relocate further down the block. People from this country, including the security guard and my maid, can immediately recognize someone who is up to no good. I mean they can spot the Tigres much quicker than even a quasi street smart gringo can, it's in their DNA.

So that's how I came to realize that my polite, clean cut, Dominican friend was trying to get me alone inside the bank so that he could rob me. Of course, there was always a slight (very) bit of doubt in my mind. Maybe he just needed help using the ATM machine? Fast forward to this week. On Monday, there was a robbery gone wrong in Evaristo Morales, which unfortunately resulted in a respected woman of the church getting killed while driving some kids to school, very sad. I still don't know the whole story, more than likely someone reading this does, but I believe two men on a motorcycle snatched a woman's purse and someone shot at them as they were trying to flee. The woman, an innocent bystander, was hit and killed instantly in the gunfire.

So the word went out on the "Dominican Wire" that two men on a motorcycle robbed, shot and killed a beloved church lady, narrowly missing the children she was driving. That's all it took to end this neighborhood crime spree. I have no idea how in a country of such disfunction, they are able to find people so fast when they are motivated to do so, but I would never want to be "wanted" in the DR. Not even 24 hours had past when videos of two badly beaten and bloodied hombres were being posted on Facebook. It appears as though the victimizers had become the victims, subjected to a powerful dose of Dominican street justice.

I usually avoid the videos of gore and carnage that people post on FB, but I wanted to see the men responsible for this terrible crime, so I clicked. And there they were, Flaco and Afro Puff, cuffed together, rolling around in their own blood, surrounded by the people tasked with instructing them in the ways of polite society. The skinny one wasn't too bad off, but his beautifully coiffured friend was clearly manipulating a broken leg around by hand. Again, I don't understand what they're saying, other than the cries for mama, but I would imagine that they are professing their innocence, pleading for mercy, or saying something in the hopes that it ease their fate, unlike that of the family of the woman who died.

For me, this is really a story about karma. I readily admit to exercising bad judgement by deciding to use a desolate, albeit familiar, ATM machine in DR, which I'll never do again. I know that familiarity can make you a victim, as a safe place on some days, doesn't make it a safe place on every day. I also know that the universe is cause and effect. I believe my desire to always "do unto others", and be good to my fellow human beings, protects me when I really need it. Even still, bad things can happen to me or anyone else, like the woman who was killed, and I'm never so foolish as to believe that they can't. As for these two thieves, their karma is evident too. I'm sure they didn't think that their petty crimes would land them in such hot water, making them the subjects of a such outrage, but you reap what you sow...
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
6,247
113
South Coast
They didn't kill the lady, news said a retired military man was shooting at them after he witnessed the purse snatching. He missed and hit the woman bystander accidentally.

Still scary, you were very lucky, glad you're OK
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
5,607
7
38
For next time, that bank has ATM's you can access from your car. The lane lost to the right on the autobanco part.
 

Garyexpat

Bronze
Sep 7, 2012
2,105
739
113
"I have no idea how in a country of such disfunction, they are able to find people so fast when they are motivated to do so, but I would never want to be "wanted" in the DR. Not even 24 hours had past when videos of two badly beaten and bloodied hombres were being posted on Facebook"

As my good friend Cristorey often says "the cops know who the tigres/ladrones are. It isn't through super police work that they find them so fast but rather knowing who the culprits are and so just going to arrest them.
If the police arrested all the criminals they are aware of, (many of them making regular payments to police) crime would take an immediate dip. I am not holding my breath in anticipation of this ever happening.
 

The Professor

Member
Sep 22, 2015
55
0
6
"I have no idea how in a country of such disfunction, they are able to find people so fast when they are motivated to do so, but I would never want to be "wanted" in the DR. Not even 24 hours had past when videos of two badly beaten and bloodied hombres were being posted on Facebook"

As my good friend Cristorey often says "the cops know who the tigres/ladrones are. It isn't through super police work that they find them so fast but rather knowing who the culprits are and so just going to arrest them.
If the police arrested all the criminals they are aware of, (many of them making regular payments to police) crime would take an immediate dip. I am not holding my breath in anticipation of this ever happening.

Thanks for clearing that up, cause it was a complete mystery to me! It totally makes sense though, and they probably allow the criminals to operate within the realm of some limited parameters, like non-violent crime. If they step outside of that, the police can grab them in a matter of minutes and crack their heads while somebody records it.
 

southern

I love Hillary!
Dec 13, 2016
1,561
1
0
You're a lucky man, if your spider sense's are tingling, instincts, they are usually accurate.
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,329
113
Interesting story, well told and a lesson.....

You can never exercise too much caution in any big city, SD especially.

Guaranteed, had your novia been with you, you'd have been warned.
 

The Professor

Member
Sep 22, 2015
55
0
6
For next time, that bank has ATM's you can access from your car. The lane lost to the right on the autobanco part.

I'm very familiar with the autobanco, but it seems less secure to me than going inside the bank. At this location, it's under the building and not very well lit. You are also somewhat limited in your field of view while siting inside the car. I almost never use these things, I feel like a sitting duck.
 

southern

I love Hillary!
Dec 13, 2016
1,561
1
0
Interesting story, well told and a lesson.....

You can never exercise too much caution in any big city, SD especially.

Guaranteed, had your novia been with you, you'd have been warned.

This is very astute. When one goes hunting in Africa for game, it is almost guaranteed you will be unsuccessful unless you have a local guide to spot the game. Here the locals know the dialect , slang and gestures of the banditos and can point them out easily.
 

ju10prd

On Vacation!
Nov 19, 2014
4,210
0
36
Accountkiller
I remain uncertain as to if I should've even posted this story or not, but maybe it can serve as a reminder to all those who probably don't need it; please be careful. I also find it a somewhat cathartic to write about a very real, though narrowly-averted danger that I faced.

...

You should be congratulated for posting your experience in detail because it highlights how delinquency in the country has become a real problem away from the major resort areas where there is more security in general, and specifically in places such as Santo Domingo.

There is a tendency for some foreigners travelling to foreign countries for vacations and extended stays at residences in towns and cities away from the resorts to lower their guard especially when they are spending most of the time with a Dominican accomplice who is street aware. That sense of well being can be carried forward to those times when alone far too easily though. Unfortunately, the security of residents in Santo Domingo for sure has definitely deteriorated markedly and all of us living here permanently are probably taking measures to change routines and limit the risk of a confrontation by these delinquents who can generally be found two up on a motorbike.

Women are seen as easy targets and there were three such cases of attempted robbery in the city at about the same time of the incident recently in Evaristo Morales.

A article in Listin Diario today sums up how residents of Santo Domingo are changing their routines and is well worth reading:

http://www.listindiario.com/la-repu...ina-por-miedo-a-delincuencia-y-crimenes-en-rd

There is no easy solution living within society in DR and my preference is to pay cash for everything rather than risk the almost certain fraud that goes on everywhere with credit cards. So that means using ATMs and as a customer of Scotiabank, I know the ATMs that I will use with plenty of security (km 9 Independencia, Bella Vista Mall) around and those I will not (ZC). That also means carrying a cheap telephone, one bank card, limited cash and my ID/license/insurance documents and no watch when out shopping alone and vary my routines.

To put it all in context however, DR is not much different to another 100 or so other countries when it comes to being at risk of crime in the city and it all comes down awareness and to a certain extent luck avoiding the wrong place at the wrong time as the lady in E M found out earlier this week.
 

ExDR

Member
Jul 31, 2014
421
0
16
Dude,

You don't keep some emergency cash stashed at home? That will keep you from having to take chances like you did. When I visit, I only go to a bank to get or change money with an armed relative.
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,329
113
This is very astute. When one goes hunting in Africa for game, it is almost guaranteed you will be unsuccessful unless you have a local guide to spot the game. Here the locals know the dialect , slang and gestures of the banditos and can point them out easily.

As the OP said in his post..... it's in their DNA.... they just read it right....
why? dunno
too much experience, I guess.

It's a sad state of affairs as jul10 points out......

I rarely get clipped but it happened the other day..... a very minor event.

Bought a beer and didn't check my change...
Stood on the curb drinking it and fiddled with my cash (you do that when you're running low)

I realized I was short 100 pesos........
went back in and used my 'falta' word with the nice little bespectacled girl.
she put up a brief resistance and then coughed up the 100....

guilty as accused............the little vixen
 

Mcinbrass

Bronze
Jan 2, 2002
835
66
48
I remain uncertain as to if I should've even posted this story or not, but maybe it can serve as a reminder to all those who probably don't need it; please be careful. I also find it a somewhat cathartic to write about a very real, though narrowly-averted danger that I faced.



I'm inclined to use the ATM at the Banco Popular branch across from Acropolis Mall in Evaristo Morales. I usually go when the bank is open, there are plenty of people around, and the security guard is present. However, one Saturday a few weeks back, the maid was getting off and needed to be paid. I agreed to drive her closer to where she takes the concho after stopping by the bank to get her money. On Saturday afternoon, the bank and office building are deserted, and the parking lot is closed. This requires parking on a side street and making a long trek across the lot to the vestibule where the ATM is located. I mean absolutely anyone and everyone can see someone doing this, as it's super conspicuous.

Once you're alone in the vestibule, you're completely isolated, and the nearest significant grouping of people would be across Churchill at the mall. To make a bad situation worse, my bank decided to block my card on this particular day, requiring me to receive and respond to a text message, which effectively extended the period of time that I was alone inside the bank.

Once I got the money, I started to separate what I owed the maid when I noticed a very thin, clean cut, Dominican man rapidly making his way across Churchill directly for the bank entrance. "Something" told me to just put the cash in my pocket and exit the bank before it was just him and me inside, I mean it was just a bad vibe. I exited the bank and started out towards my car before he entered. The man goes inside, then immediately popped back out and called to me, "Caballero!", as if to ask a question. I gave him a very hasty "lo siento, no hablo español", and kept it pushing towards my car. Could my terrible Spanish have saved my life?

When I got back in the car, the maid was freaking out about something, but again, my bad Spanish... However, what was abundantly clear is that she was trying to direct my attention to now a different man, sporting an "Afro Puff", sitting on a parked motorcycle 75' ahead of my car. Alas, I would have to wait for my girlfriend to talk to her on Monday to find out what it was all about.

As you more DR-Savvy readers have already figured out, on Monday, the maid reported that the two men rode up on the motorcycle together, Flaco then hops off, crosses Churchill, walks back down the block directly across from the bank entrance, then proceeds to cross back and enter the bank, just as your antisocial protagonist decides that he doesn't want any company and makes a beeline for his car. Interestingly enough, they originally parked right across from my car, but a security guard came out and instructed Afro Puff to keep it moving, making him relocate further down the block. People from this country, including the security guard and my maid, can immediately recognize someone who is up to no good. I mean they can spot the Tigres much quicker than even a quasi street smart gringo can, it's in their DNA.

So that's how I came to realize that my polite, clean cut, Dominican friend was trying to get me alone inside the bank so that he could rob me. Of course, there was always a slight (very) bit of doubt in my mind. Maybe he just needed help using the ATM machine? Fast forward to this week. On Monday, there was a robbery gone wrong in Evaristo Morales, which unfortunately resulted in a respected woman of the church getting killed while driving some kids to school, very sad. I still don't know the whole story, more than likely someone reading this does, but I believe two men on a motorcycle snatched a woman's purse and someone shot at them as they were trying to flee. The woman, an innocent bystander, was hit and killed instantly in the gunfire.

So the word went out on the "Dominican Wire" that two men on a motorcycle robbed, shot and killed a beloved church lady, narrowly missing the children she was driving. That's all it took to end this neighborhood crime spree. I have no idea how in a country of such disfunction, they are able to find people so fast when they are motivated to do so, but I would never want to be "wanted" in the DR. Not even 24 hours had past when videos of two badly beaten and bloodied hombres were being posted on Facebook. It appears as though the victimizers had become the victims, subjected to a powerful dose of Dominican street justice.

I usually avoid the videos of gore and carnage that people post on FB, but I wanted to see the men responsible for this terrible crime, so I clicked. And there they were, Flaco and Afro Puff, cuffed together, rolling around in their own blood, surrounded by the people tasked with instructing them in the ways of polite society. The skinny one wasn't too bad off, but his beautifully coiffured friend was clearly manipulating a broken leg around by hand. Again, I don't understand what they're saying, other than the cries for mama, but I would imagine that they are professing their innocence, pleading for mercy, or saying something in the hopes that it ease their fate, unlike that of the family of the woman who died.

For me, this is really a story about karma. I readily admit to exercising bad judgement by deciding to use a desolate, albeit familiar, ATM machine in DR, which I'll never do again. I know that familiarity can make you a victim, as a safe place on some days, doesn't make it a safe place on every day. I also know that the universe is cause and effect. I believe my desire to always "do unto others", and be good to my fellow human beings, protects me when I really need it. Even still, bad things can happen to me or anyone else, like the woman who was killed, and I'm never so foolish as to believe that they can't. As for these two thieves, their karma is evident too. I'm sure they didn't think that their petty crimes would land them in such hot water, making them the subjects of a such outrage, but you reap what you sow...

What are the police doing about all of this?
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
"I have no idea how in a country of such disfunction, they are able to find people so fast when they are motivated to do so, but I would never want to be "wanted" in the DR. Not even 24 hours had past when videos of two badly beaten and bloodied hombres were being posted on Facebook"

As my good friend Cristorey often says "the cops know who the tigres/ladrones are. It isn't through super police work that they find them so fast but rather knowing who the culprits are and so just going to arrest them.
If the police arrested all the criminals they are aware of, (many of them making regular payments to police) crime would take an immediate dip. I am not holding my breath in anticipation of this ever happening.

yes, Garyexpat, you are right. in the third world, the cops usually come from the neighborhood. it is not like New York, where a bunch of guys from Shirley are working the streets of Brownsville. the cops know the guys, and what they do. they know all the crooks. if a store gets knocked over one afternoon, the cops are not wasting their time looking for Fausto, because they know he is a car thief. they are looking for Moises, because that is his crime of choice.
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
40,964
936
113
I usually avoid the videos of gore and carnage that people post on FB, but I wanted to see the men responsible for this terrible crime, so I clicked. And there they were, Flaco and Afro Puff, cuffed together, rolling around in their own blood, surrounded by the people tasked with instructing them in the ways of polite society. The skinny one wasn't too bad off, but his beautifully coiffured friend was clearly manipulating a broken leg around by hand. Again, I don't understand what they're saying, other than the cries for mama, but I would imagine that they are professing their innocence, pleading for mercy, or saying something in the hopes that it ease their fate, unlike that of the family of the woman who died.
Vigilante Justice just occurs when the people have lost faith in law enforcement.

I'm glad you're OK. Could have been much worse, and no doubt you learned some lessons. I know my spidy senses are on DefCom1 when I'm at an ATM.

When I first got to the DR, we had a "second-story" guy steal several things on three different occasions. Small things that we didn't notice at first, thinking we'd misplaced them. But we finally found evidence and went to speak to the local PN chief. We didn't hear a word for a few months. Then one day we were approached on the street by a guy who showed a badge and spoke some English. He was a PN detective. He gave us a gold chain that had been missing that he found in a compra venta pawned by a local guy known as El Mono Flaco. I asked if he caught the guy. He smiled and said "El Mono Flaco was found apparently dead." Apparently. I smiled at his choice of words.

I recall a story from some years ago from San Cristobal, I think. Seems some known ladrone stole a girl's pasola, a guy well know to all for his thievery. Seems his actions were the straw who broke the proverbial camel's back. A mob chased him down, caught him, beat him with 2x4's and concrete blocks, stabbed him, shot him, and paraded his body through the local barrios in a wheelbarrow...for three hours...before dumping his body in a pile in front of a hospital. I suspect he, too, was found "apparently" dead.

You cringe when hearing stories like that, but understand the frustration that drives the people to act with such violence.
 

Bronxboy

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2007
14,107
595
113
You cringe when hearing stories like that, but understand the frustration that drives the people to act with such violence.

Understood.

Please, please, DR1'ers.

Do not post videos though.

Out of sight, "you know the rest".
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
13,370
3,150
113
From my understanding, the OP is saying that the guys that committed the robbery where the innocent bystander was killed, they are the same that attempted to rob him too.

If that's the case, it looks like these are the guys. They were captured by a security camera while committing the robbery.

0.jpg


wp-1487526567277.png


This video is of 2015, but it took place in the Evaristo Morales neighborhood. To me, their body shapes and motorcycle looks similar to the guys captured by security cameras (photos above).

[video]https://videopress.com/v/cg7VHF3y[/video]
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,329
113
CB
The story that chills me is a local one , here in Cabrera several years back.

A male apparently molested a young boy.

They found the molestor , bleeding to death in a field.....
His testicles were stuffed in his mouth.

Nor sure if he survived.....
 
Status
Not open for further replies.