'US woman robs bank on way to pick up kids from school'

Erica Anderson went into an Umpqua Bank branch in Grants Pass and handed the teller a note demanding cash with one special request -- not to call the police for 15 minutes as she had to pick her kids from school.

"The note also instructed the teller to wait 15 minutes before calling law enforcement or else two kids wouldn't make it home from school," Detective Sgt Dennis Ward was quoted by the 'People' magazine as saying. Anderson fled the bank with US dollars 1,300 with Joshua K Deeter Tseu, 19, driving the getaway car, said Ward, and the officers who responded within minutes were baffled and concerned by the note, fearing children were in danger.

Instead, said Ward, "She didn't want to be late picking up her kids." Anderson was arrested in her driveway, not long after picking up her kids at a local elementary school. Both her daughters were munching on ice cream bars when officers arrived at the scene.

Anderson reportedly appeared concerned about what might happen to her daughters following her arrest. "But I guess if she's really all that concerned about their welfare, she probably wouldn't be committing bank robbery," Ward said. Both Anderson and Tseu are charged with first-degree theft and second-degree robbery. "We average between three and five bank robberies a year. But I don't think I've ever heard of anything quite like this," Ward said.