Spaghetti Sauce Bandit Gets Prison in Suburban Detroit Bank Heist

Ophelia A. Neal didn’t ask for noodles when she robbed a Clinton Township bank last April using cans of spaghetti sauce to simulate a bomb.

She asked for cash.

That was enough to land her in jail for up to 10 years, the Detroit Free Press reports. Neal, 53, was sentenced to up to10 years in prison Tuesday by Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Faunce in Mount Clemons. Under Michigan law, she’ll be eligible for parole after she serves four years and five months of the sentence.

Neal reportedly told tellers at the Fifth Third Bank Branch in Macomb County’s Clinton Township that she had a bomb concealed in a cloth bag when she held it up April 6, but investigators later learned the bag contained only two cans of spaghetti sauce.

She fled in a getaway car with a man at the wheel, but didn’t remain on the lam for long. Investigators quickly recognized her from surveillance video, which showed a 5-foot 7-inch woman weighing 430 pounds  approach the teller and demand cash.

Neal pleaded guilty to bank robbery and explosives charges in an Oct. 7 Circuit Court proceeding.

Neal has a lengthy record, according to court records, including drug charges, assault with a dangerous weapon, forgery, entering without permission and interfering with a crime report.