Essie Award Time!

It's time for an Essie -- the award for incredible stupidity.

This Essie goes to Nathan Wayne Pugh. Nathan attempted to rob a Wells Fargo Bank last July. He entered the bank around noon with a Whataburger sack in his hands and told the teller he wanted to make a withdrawal. She asked how much, and he handed her a scrap of paper on which he had written, "This is not a bag of food." The note went on to say that the bag contained a "bom," and that the teller was to "put money in an envelope and do not make any move till after I have left for ten minutes."

Evidently the teller could see that Pugh was a bag of fries short of a full-meal deal, and she told him she would have to see some identification. So he pulled out his Wells Fargo debit card and gave it to her. "How much would you like?" she asked. "Two thousand," he replied. Oh, to get that much, the teller told him, she would have to see a second form of identification. So he pulled out his State of Texas photo ID. The teller had already pressed the silent alarm, and Pugh was met by police as he attempted to leave with his "withdrawal." So, Nathan Pugh, you have earned the not-so-coveted Essie!

Now, this story is not quite complete, because there is a secondary Essie to give out. It goes to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. They let Pugh out of prison in July 2009. He was serving a 25 year sentence for two counts of aggravated robbery and had been in prison since 1996. But that wasn't his first brush with the law. He had racked up three DWI's before that, and he was sentenced to 10 years for possession of cocaine in 1990. He also has convictions for burglary and driving with a suspended license. So for the idiots who let him out, you get the secondary Essie!

"Life of crime isn't working out for him." The Dallas Morning News; August 5, 2010; p. 1A.