Gambling habit leads cops to 72-year-old robbery suspect

Tuesday, May 23, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

That is where they found John Ludwig, 72, last fall following a robbery at a Burger King in Oneonta, and that is where they picked him up Monday afternoon.

Ludwig, of Oneonta, was charged with third-degree robbery, a felony. Police said he robbed the Charter One Bank just before 11 a.m. Monday.

State Police Capt. Thomas Kelly said Ludwig entered the bank without a disguise and handed a teller a note asking for cash. The teller handed over a "substantial" amount of cash, and the robber left in a 1989 two-toned blue Buick Riviera, Kelly said.

An hour before the bank robbery, Ludwig had appeared before Otsego County Judge Michael V. Coccoma and was chastised for failing to make restitution to Burger King. Coccoma said he thought Ludwig had a gambling addiction, but Ludwig denied it. Coccoma ordered Ludwig to seek a mental health evaluation.

"I guess that he took the judge's admonition about paying the restitution to heart. But he was about as successful with this robbery as he was the first time," said Otsego County District Attorney William Gibbons.

In October 1999, Ludwig was accused of entering Burger King and giving a clerk a note saying he had a bomb. He was given cash and went to the casino, where he was picked up by police the next day. He was charged with first-degree robbery, but the charge was reduced to third-degree because the bomb turned out to be Tupperware. He ultimately pleaded guilty to petit larceny, a misdemeanor, received a one-year conditional discharge and was ordered to pay restitution.

Ludwig was arraigned Monday on the bank robbery charge and was being held in the Otsego County jail in lieu of $10,000 cash or $25,000 bond.