Cancer patient wearing surgical mask mistaken for bank robber

A man being treated for cancer walked into a bank wearing a surgical mask to protect himself against germs. Unfortunately for Joe Jaramillo, the FBI were hunting an armed and dangerous criminal known as the "Surgical Mask" bank robber who had held two banks in Orange County.



Jaramillo had undergone chemotherapy the day before. “I felt so embarrassed and humiliated,” said Jaramillo, asked how he felt when he was surrounded by police inside the Wells Fargo bank in Montebello, California. Jaramillo, who has Hodgkin Lymphoma, had undergone chemotherapy the day before.

He wanted to do something on his and decided he needed money and wore the surgical mask for protection. He went to a teller to make the withdrawal, however, the teller, kept saying there was a problem with the transaction. He then found himself surrounded by police officers. "The next thing I know, I have six Montebello police officers around me, standing there saying, 'Can you stand up, can you put your hands above your head'?'


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"What did I do? 'Can you please stand up, sir?' I go, 'Really?' This is so embarrassing, you have all these people at the bank [watching]," says Jaramillo. "Then I noticed, behind the scenes, they even had shotguns." Police questioned him, searched his car and apologised after realising he was not the bank robber. Jaramillo did not complain about the police's actions but was upset that the bank had called them.