Jeffrey Shuman

Jeffrey Shuman (born 1962) is an American-French bank robber, dubbed "The Vaulter", considered to be one of Canada's most prolific bank robbers.[1]

Early life

Shuman was born in Los Angeles County, California, U.S. in 1962. He holds dual citizenship: American, and French acquired through his maternal grandmother who was from Southern France.[2] After high school, he served in the U.S. Navy and studied fashion merchandising before working in the mortgage and banking field.[2] He moved to Miami, Florida in the early 1990s and worked as a land developer, living a lavish lifestyle despite having no sales for three years.[1]

Bank robberies

United States

Between 1992 and 1993, Shuman robbed over a dozen banks in Florida and Tennessee jumping over the counters and raiding the cash drawers.[2] While driving in Alabama, he was stopped for speeding; a police officer and a Birmingham FBI agent searched the trunk of his rental car and found a trash bag with a police radio scanner, an air pistol, plastic gloves, Reebok tennis shoes, maps of Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, and baseball caps under the spare tire. He only received a traffic citation and was released. After coordination with information from FBI Birmingham and FBI Tampa, within days a warrant was issued for bank robbery and the FBI arrested him in Miami.[2] In 1994 he pleaded guilty to robbing 14 banks, receiving a 12-year sentence, but was released in 2004.[2] He fled the U.S. while on parole.[3]

Canada

Six years later, Shuman began robbing banks in Canada, 12 in York Region, Ontario (Markham, Richmond Hill and Vaughan), four in Calgary, Alberta, two in the Region of Peel, Ontario, and one in each of Hamilton, Ottawa and Toronto between 2010 and 2015 – 21 robberies in Canada.[1] Shuman became more violent as the robberies progressed, waiting for employees to open the banks in the morning and holding them at gun point locking them in the vault.[4] He managed to steal a total of about $450,000 from the robberies, most of which were successful.[1][5]

Extradition and sentence

After Shuman's latest robbery in Mississauga, Ontario in May 2015, he fled Canada to France using his French passport.[3] Four months later in September, with the help of French, German, Swiss and Danish authorities, they monitored his activities in Europe and tracked him down to Geneva, Switzerland, where he was arrested on his way from France.[3] Shuman was due for extradition to Canada in February 2016. However, Shuman faked chest pains over French airspace in an attempt to force the commercial plane to land in France since the country does not extradite their citizens.[3] Instead, the plane landed in London, England where Shuman was taken to hospital with no evidence of heart problems.[3] Due to this situation, commercial airlines would not allow him to fly, so a private jet was arranged landing in Toronto.[1] Shuman is facing 31 criminal charges, including 11 counts of armed robbery.[3][4]

On July 25, 2017, Shuman was sentenced to 15 years in prison, in a Newmarket courthouse, after pleading guilty to seven counts of robbery.[5][6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Man believed to be Canada's most prolific bank robber returned from Europe". Toronto Sun. 27 February 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "The prolific Florida bank robber who is now accused in Canada". The Globe and Mail. 11 December 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Bank robber believed to be 'The Vaulter' now in York police custody". thestar.com. 1 March 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  4. 1 2 "'The Vaulter' bank robbery suspect extradited back to Canada". CBC/Radio-Canada. 1 March 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Vaulter Bandit gets 15 years after stealing $450K in series of bank heists". yorkregion.com. 25 July 2017.
  6. ↑ "UPDATE: Vaulter Bandit, Canada's most prolific bank robber pleads guilty". yorkregion.com. 5 July 2017.
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