Posted on 05/06/2003 4:24:17 PM PDT by woofie
A longtime officer turned bank robber was in desperate financial straits apparently caused by a gambling problem.
On the morning that police say Attorney General investigator Karen Yontz robbed a bank and forced officers to shoot her by pointing a gun at them, a writ ordering her wages garnisheed for an unpaid loan was sent to a judge for approval.
Santa Fe County District Court records showed that, as of Feb. 28, Yontz owed $7,994.99 to CitiFinancial Inc. for a loan taken out in 2000.
Yontz's husband, Bernalillo County Assistant District Attorney Jim Yontz, told KOAT-TV channel 7 on Monday that his wife had a gambling problem. Yontz said his wife had lost $100,000 or more.
"She had so much pride, it just ate her up," he said. The attorney for CitiFinancial, Michael Seibel, said he got approval from the Attorney General's Office on April 30 to garnishee about $287 of each of Karen Yontz's $1,730.80 biweekly wages until the debt was paid off.
Seibel said he sent the writ to a judge for final approval Friday, the day Yontz was killed.
"The timing makes me wonder if this had anything to do with it," Seibel said. "I do find that there is extreme shame associated with having your wages garnisheed. It makes your private affairs known to your boss, and there is a stigma attached to it."
Attorney General spokeswoman Sam Thompson said Monday she could not comment, except to say that Yontz had been employed and had not been given notice of termination.
FBI spokesman Doug Beldon has said investigators are looking into whether Yontz's apparent "deep personal issues" contributed to her behavior.
Seibel said Yontz had taken out about a $3,000 loan from the financial institution in 2000 and began missing payments immediately. After failing to make the first payment due May 1, 2000, Yontz eventually made a single payment of $164.55, Seibel said. Yontz had 23 payments remaining, he said.
The complaint Seibel filed against Yontz in district court said Yontz was paying 28.81 percent yearly interest on the loan.
Seibel said the writ of garnishment was sought after Yontz failed to appear at several court hearings. "The total (owed) was about two months' salary," Seibel said. "That's not that much, and not something to rob banks for."
Police spotted Yontz driving on Paseo del Norte on Friday morning after she had robbed the New Mexico Bank and Trust at Riverside Plaza. They pursued her to the parking lot of Whataburger near Osuna and Jefferson, where Yontz got out of her car, pointed her service revolver at her head and then at officers, police said.
It was then that two police officers fired and killed Yontz, police said.
Beldon said Yontz also was a suspect in an April 25 bank robbery.
I'm not a cop, but If I'd seen her point a gun at me, I would have shot her myself.
Look- it's very sad. Woman was, on the one hand, holding down on a job, taking care of business, etc.. She had a "problem"...she had "issues"...She robbed a damn bank and pointed a gun at a human.
Shoot her.
One can believe something is a vice, and still partake in it regularly :-)
The difference is, we don't pretend to be finger-jabbing gun-grabbing holy men of virtue
(for the record, I am not "finger-jabbing" because I am not criticing Bennett for gambling or moralizing, I could care less about both--but people who criticize him for moralizing are guilty of the same. People who come from a conservative anti-gambling position and criticize him for being a hypocrite are on much stronger logical grounds.)
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