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These cuties took the easy way out of debt


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Well they got caught. Looks like a conspiracy with the teller.

MARIETTA, Ga. -- The so-called 'Barbie Bandits' are behind bars.

Four people were arrested Thursday night in the robbery of a bank in a supermarket by two young women who made a splash with surveillance video showing them fashionably clad in sunglasses and smiling during the holdup.

Cobb County Police spokeswoman Cassie Reece says a bank teller and two 19-year-old women were among those charged with theft and drug violations. Another man, identified as 27-year-old Michael Chastang of Fulton County, also was arrested for felony theft.

Reece said all four were part of a conspiracy to take money from the bank.

She said the two women, who she identifies as Ashley Miller and Heather Johnston of Fulton County, and 22-year-old bank teller Benny Herman Allen III were stopped earlier Thursday by police about 20 miles from where Tuesday's robbery occurred.

Douglas County Sheriff Major M.O. Harper said police from Cobb County, where the robbery took place at a Kroger's branch of a Bank of America, chased the trio into the neighboring county where deputies were called in to apprehend them. Harper said three were immediately turned over to Cobb County authorities for questioning.

Images captured from the surveillance video by police show the robbers wore nothing but dark sunglasses to disguise their faces as they handed a teller a note demanding cash Tuesday afternoon.

Cobb police say Miller and Chastang also were charged with trafficking in MDMA and both had outstanding warrants -- Miller for probation violation out of Clayton County and Chastang for failure to appear in Fulton County.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • 5 months later...

Follow up to the "Barbie Bandits" My kinda girl!!! ::Chasey::

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/08/22/barbie.bandit.ap/index.html

MARIETTA, Georgia (AP) -- One of the two young women dubbed the "Barbie Bandits" after a videotaped bank theft pleaded guilty Wednesday and apologized in tears.

Heather Johnston, shown in an earlier booking photo, pleaded guilty in the "Barbie Bandits" case.

"I regret what I did. I wish I could take it back every day," Heather Johnston, 19, told the judge.

She said she decided to plead guilty to felony theft and misdemeanor marijuana possession because she wanted to take responsibility for her actions. She did not have a deal with prosecutors.

Surveillance video showed Johnston and Ashley Miller wearing sunglasses and laughing as they appeared to steal nearly $11,000 from a Bank of America branch in Acworth, Georgia on February 27. Authorities later said the bank teller was in on the plot.

According to authorities, Miller and Johnston went on a shopping spree afterward and even gave money to the homeless. They were arrested two days later.

Charges against Miller, the bank teller and another man are still pending.

Johnston, who had no prior criminal record, and her parents asked Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley not to send her to prison.

Assistant District Attorney Jason Samuels recommended three years behind bars for the theft charge and one year for the drug charge, to be served concurrently. He noted that Johnston was seen smiling during the theft and later laughed about it in a nationally televised interview.

The judge said she would defer sentencing until after the three other defendants' cases are concluded. She said she expects Johnston will testify truthfully if called as a witness.

Johnston and her parents told the court that following her release on bond, she has worked for about three months as a customer service representative for a legitimate business. Before her arrested, she had been working in a strip club.

"Money isn't everything," Johnston said. "It's not what's important to me any more. Doing the right thing is." Now, she said, "I feel more rewarded because I've worked hard for it."

To her family and friends, she said, "If I've embarrassed you or hurt you, which I know I have, then I'm sorry." E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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