War Story: Green wouldn’t come Clean

Editor’s Note: from time to time we’ll catch one of Jim Cavanaugh’s “War Stories” shared on social media. His tales from days serving in law enforcement are too good to miss, and he has agreed to allow us to share them with Brownwood News readers.

Written by Jim Cavanaugh – Mr. Green was a career bank robber. He had been giving us fits in Palm Beach County because he left little evidence at the scene and often wore disguises.

His MO was always the same and we already had a name because of his history. We got a tip he was living in the beautiful downtown Westgate section of West Palm Beach, so Acee, Yanketis, and I set up on the home. Out he came, and jumped into his car. We blocked him in and rushed the car: he had the window down and like a good driver, his seatbelt securely fastened.

Green couldn’t reach the gun he had in his waistband and gave it up when I stuck a 9mm in his ear.

His girlfriend was in the home and we pulled her into the office, where she gave a confession about driving the get-a-way car in the robberies. When confronted, Green offered to plead guilty if we’d give the girl a break. We agreed and he went to jail.

By the time the case came up for a plea, the girl had died in a car wreck and Green reneged on his plea deal. Since we had little concrete evidence in the bank jobs, I charged him for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon… all we needed was the gun (which I took off him at the arrest) and certified copies of his felony convictions.

At the time mandatory sentencing had kicked in and the judge had no other option than to send him away for 75 years.

The fool could only have received 20 years for the robbery.

One for the good guys.