Me & Honey Stealing Money: Craig & Nova’s Lawless Lovefest

someone wins the lottery live on air. Okay, live on air. Look, we're not live on air. By the spoiler alert, if you're hearing this, I didn't win because we would immediately stop recording and quit our job. Oh my god, No, we wouldn't know, but we wouldn't be rushing. That's true. I can tell you that. I hang on a second, here's a rerun and my tickets. Oh my god, Yeah, did you win? I mean did we? First of all, check yourself there. You almost set yourself with a problem.

I know, sixty four. I got it. That's that's it. Just to sixty four. How much do you get for one number? You don't get anything one number. There's lots of number. Does anybody get one of them? Well, then I guess we're doing this, so let's get do it. Yet. Today comes a story of a couple who have regularly been called the modern day Bonnie and Clyde and countless media articles. But honestly, it's not really a great comparison. Firstly,

I think because spoiler alert, they never murdered anyone's story. Yeah. No, This couple starts with Craig Pritchard, who was a former baseball star turned bank robber in the nineteen nineties whose heists were so well planned that he just could not be caught. But the most precious thing he ever stole was the heart of Nova Guthrie. She was so love struck by this charismatic criminal that she joined him, and together they raked in nearly a half million dollars in

the late nineties. So stick them up, let me see those hands, and then let me see a clap them together for today's story. In Lawless love Birds, let's go Heyla friends. Come listen well, Elia and Diana got some stories to tell. There's no matchmaking, all romantic tips. It's just about ridiculous relationships. A lover them might be any type of person at all, and abstract cons ator a concrete wall. But if there's a story, were the Second

Clans Ridiculous Romans? A production of iHeartRadio? The Heart of Nova Guthrie sounds like like an Oprah book Club novel, now a major motion picture, Frank, what's Reese Witherspoon's production company? No, But I was like, whoever made Where the Crawdads Sing? I feel like they also make the Heart of Not Well, we'll get to her. Craig Pritchart was born in nineteen

sixty two. When he grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona. And this guy was tall, he was handsome, he was athletic, and in nineteen eighty three, after an amazing high school season of baseball, he was signed to Arizona State University. The guy had his whole life late out for him. He was told, like, you're the best, You're the best baseball player. You're really going places. You are a super star Craig Pritchart, and so he was sure that he was going on to make big bucks in the major leagues.

He went ahead and got engaged to his high school sweetheart, the homecoming queen, and head cheerleader Lori Pulzado. So these guys just you're cliche, perfect, totally high school couple, handsome, jock, hot cheerleader. I can read the Sports Illustrated profile in my head right now, so could he. He was ready for all his questions pre answered. Yeah, I was practicing his interviews in the mirror. So Craig is totally on

track for stardom. But during his first year at Arizona State, some new kids showed up and started hogging all the attention that had previously been Craigs. And this kid's name was Barry Bonds. Oh man, yea, well, listen. Barry Bonds was, of course an incredible athlete. We all know that name for a reason. By the time he was in high school, he could basically take his pick of baseball, basketball, or football, and I'm sure Craig was like, Okay, go with basketball,

bro leave the field for me. You could play anything. But Barry played baseball on the varsity team starting his sophomore year. By the time he was a senior in nineteen eighty two, he had been drafted to play for the Giants straight out of high school, which is crazy know that happened I don't follow sports well enough. But they could not come to an agreement on a contract. So Barry said, you know what y'all think about it,

I'm going to college. So, having his pick of schools, he ended up at Arizona State, and it wasn't long before Craig Pritcher was just another nobody backing up the star player Barry Bonds. N Craig was a little proud. He could not handle losing out to Barry Bonds like this, and he felt like his future was being stolen from him. So he dropped out of school after only a year and ended up going back to Scottsdale, and there he married Lorie Polzado and they had three kids together over

the next six years. Now, he could have transferred to another school, he could have played baseball somewhere else, but his wife Lorie told Max Alexander of Reader's Digest quote, he had no patience. It's not a great quality for an athlete. Quite a lot of baseball. Yeah, you gotta have patience just to watch baseball. Well, Craig worked odd jobs to keep his family afloat, but he still had

these big ambitions. He spent most of his life thinking he was going to be a rich baseball player, and he was not ready to give up the rich part of those dreams. Well, I'll drop out of school being a baseball player, but damn it, I'm still gonna be rich. I damn it. I want all the fancy stuff. But baseball, you know, was what he had put all of his focus and energy into when he was young, so he was not really sure how to start over, so he

fell into some get rich quick schemes. This led to gambling, which led to small time scams. None of that, obviously, was paying off for him. That was not getting him the big bucks he was looking for, so he decided to get his life together and really dedicate himself to a skill that could earn him a decent living. He was gonna be a bank robber. Oh look at me now,

mount make it. Laurie, his wife, soon learned that not only was Craig breaking the law, but he had actually been doing it almost the whole time she knew him. She said, quote, I found out that in high school he was stealing tires off cars at fancy dealerships and then selling them at a swap meet the next day. Not only that, but Craig had been cheating on her, and not subtly like he was, as Max Alexander wrote, quote a controlling, manipulative person who craved danger. This guy

got off on flaunting his infidelities to his wife. At one point he was even hanging out with another woman in a hot tub at their own apartment complex. Dang Lorie was working full time as a bank teller and raising their three kids, but Craig was out there stealing and cheating and living it up however he wanted. She even saw him cruising around town in a silver Porsche Carrera, which, of course they did not own a Porsche Carrera because

they didn't have money. She's like, where did you get there? Interesting? This sounds like a real piece of shit. Yeah. Not not husband of the year, not husband of the year at all. How crazy to like be in a hot tub right there? Yeah he really wanted her to Yeah, what a jerk. Yeah. Well, fortunately Laurie separated from Craig. She called the whole Man Disposal Services and got rid of him, and he ended out following the money to Las Vegas in nineteen ninety and robbed two banks just

outside the city. Now, if you're unfamiliar. Clark County and the city of Las Vegas take their money pretty seriously, all right, sort of a big deal there, the kind of pay pretty close attention to it. I'm saying, if there's anywhere I'm not gonna steal from, right Las Vegas. Now. Craig had fled to Hawaii after robbing the banks, but he was arrested there and picked out of a lineup

by one of the bank tellers that he robbed. Well, he got shipped back to Arizona, and he was sentenced to five years in a jail there, and his wife Lorie, back home near Scottsdale with their three children, told New York Times in a phone interview, quote, it's so sad. Those kids are the only good thing he ever did.

And they divorced that same year. It was nineteen ninety two by the time he started his five year prison sentence, and while in prison, you can imagine that he really had a lot of time to think about what he'd done, you know, about the choices that he'd made, and the future he was providing for his family at about his hopes, his dreams and ambitions, and how maybe if he'd put his talents and efforts into something besides bank robbing. He

might actually find a happy, comfortable life after all. You can imagine that all you want, But that's, of course not actually what Craig did. Instead, as FBI agent Edward Hall told Unsolved Mysteries quote, he met other people that had robbed banks in jail and they exchanged thoughts, ideas, ways to perfect robbing a bank better next time. Oh damn, given each other some looke lessons. Burglary basics. Welcome to burglary basics. One oh one, some some heist hints. White

color work yeah, white color. Crime workshop. The crime crime classes, Crime classes, Crime College, Crime College. Welcome to crime College. It's a crime community college. Okay, we're a community here. Amazing. This seems like a big problem with the jail system. It's like sending everyone to crime college, right where you

learn from each other. We have I think we have come across that before, or we seen it in some some research or something where I'm like, man, it's almost like you send them to jail and they learn how to do it better. Instead of learning how to they like meet connections that help them like make do more crimes later. So how'd you get caught. Well, I did this wrong and you did that wrong. Well, then I know two things not to do wrong next time. Well,

and also it's like a big conference. Sure, it's basically everyone at the same hotel exchanging best practices. Oh, you're gonna make it de Larry's two thirty panel on jewel thievery. Oh no, I'm going to be at the Art Heist workshop. Oh I want to. Let's exchange notes afterwards. Yeah, all right, So he's learning some burglary basics in prison. When Craig got out of jail in nineteen ninety seven, obviously he had nothing. His wife had left him, he had no job.

Now he did have something, which was a prison record, nothing useful, so he was kind of like, oh, what am I gonna do? So to make up for the time he lost as a result of robbing banks, he decided to rob banks really doubling down here. Oh man. Now. One time, when visiting with his kids, he told his ex wife's new husband John that robbery was his drug of choice, saying, quote, there is no better high, and relating the feeling that he got before a heist to

the minutes before a big baseball game. Oh okay, Okay, well, now it was time for Craig to get another hit of that sweet, sweet drug, because on August thirteenth, nineteen ninety seven, according to the East Valley Tribune, Craig robbed Norwest Banks in Scottsdale of thirty two thousand dollars, which today is actually worth let's see here because calculator almost

sixty thousand dollars, almost double today. His ex wife, Laurie, worked as a teller at a Norwest Bank in the nearby town of Mesa, and she totally she did not think it was a coincidence that he chose Norwest to rob. Oh wow, He's just another opportunity for him to like flaunt, yeah, I guess in front of her face, make her uncomfortable. Yeah, very rude. Craig escaped with a diversion of setting a car on fire and then driving away in another getaway car.

Police close to catching him. There was even a chase through a luxury shopping mall, but in the end all they found was his car strewn with loose cash and a broken tracking device. From there, he fled to New Mexico and ended up in a bar in the small city of Farmington. He's got this bar and he's chatting it up with a local guy. He's talking baseball, telling war stories. You know how he almost played for the majors if Barry Bonds hadn't come in. Damn Barry Bonds, right,

And that's a cool story. I mean the guys probably like, whoa Barry Bonds. Stow your thunder. That's wild. I know. Well Annie did play with Barry. Yeah. Right, So this guy thought he was pretty cool, and he introduced him to his sister, a young woman named Nova Guthrie. The two of them took one look and went full googly eye at our woga wooga, oh yeah, yelling head over heels, horny for each other. They were like, oh my god, you're so hot. She's like, wow, you're un him. Those

are their voices. Pretty's kind of crazy. Well, he asked her on a date and she probably asked like, well, what do you have in nine? And he was like, Oh, let's go get a nice dinner and then wreck the First National Bank of Durango, Colorado. Oh okay. He was like I'm in yes, let's do this and we will hear all about their heisty hookup. Right after this break welcome back to the show, Everybody. So. Nova Guthrie was born in Boone, Colorado, in nineteen seventy five, the youngest

of eight children. Her dad was a steel worker, her mom a school teacher, and they were strict Christian fundamentalists. They were not even allowed to have a TV in the house. So Nova lacked a lot of excitement in her life. But she was very clever and intelligent. She was in the National Honor Society, and she got a pre med degree from Morningside College in Iowa. And she was pretty, but she was tough too. Her college roommates said quote, she wasn't afraid to get dirty, and she

didn't let anybody push her around. Friends called her bold, stubborn, opinionated, and courageous. And she and her brother had been selling vacuum cleaners in New Mexico when he introduced her to this handsome ex baseball player who was twelve years older than her. So when Craig charmed her and promised her a life full of excitement, danger and luxury, Nova was ready to jump on board. I wonder too, Like you know, she's the youngest of eight children. She's probably used to

having a work for attention. I was thinking the same thing. Surely there's some element of like look at me. I know that can happen with the youngest children. I was third of four, and I really need attention. Sis, my little sister, the fourth of four, absolutely does not want attention, and she's like, let me because please don't bother me. You know it's not true for everyone, but sometimes interesting. Do you feel like you have middle old vibes? I

have middle younger child vibes for sure. Yeah, which means I have both issues. Oh fun. Oh that's so fun for you. Yeah, it's fun for you. I'll bet it is so fun for me. Also, whatever that that's what makes me so exciting. Constant demand for attention. Laugh louder at that. I'm sorry, I need it. I'm laughing as loud as I can. This is every day. That was hilarious, And you're like it was hilarious. I'm like, well, can you give me some Can I get a Pavlovian response? Please? Something?

How about that that it's better than nothing? See? That's good. Where's that? When I need it? I mean, you get it when you earn it. Wow, that's fair. It makes me better, That's right. Anyway back to Nova and Craig. So it was Halloween night in nineteen ninety seven when Craig and Nova did their first lovers crime together and robbed the Bank of the Southwest in Durango, Colorado, and they cleaned out the vault of sixty thousand dollars and

fled the city. Jeez, and I remember, like almost every number you hear at this point is like nearly double right what it was because the late nineties, you know, money was free back then. Money you could just take it. I mean clearly not because they're going to get in trouble for taking all this money. Craig had learned a lot from all the bank robbers that he met in his five years in prison, and he had taken elements from all their systems to put a plan together of

his own. And this is not your classic you know, walk up to the window, slip him a note that says, put on your money on the bag, lady, you know, and then just walk out of the door kind of robbery. No, no, no. Instead, Craig and Nova would first go to small towns mostly they avoided big cities. They would set themselves up in a hotel or a short term rental, and then they would go out in the town and wine and dine at trendy local restaurants and get to know the locals.

They were super charming. So they would go out and they meet all these locals, and according to the Denver Post, they would subtly learn from them which banks would be the best ones to hit and which day they should hit them up on. So and if you asked me to do the same thing, I'm like, Okay, I'll i'll I'll go walk up to a rich person's table and say, hey, hey pal, so, uh, which bank do you use? And what days do you deposit your money? I mean, how

do you find this information? They were good. They must have been like I'm looking for a new bank, you know what I mean, Like, what do you do? You like your bank? What do you who do you use? You know? Oh my god? But you know what I hate is waiting in line at the bank. Do you know what it's? When's it dead? That's my question? Why can't I go in and there's nobody there? These are pre mobile deposit days right right? When? When when's the

security changed their shifts? Yeah? I want it asked too much? Gone too far. Don't be suspicious. Don't. Don't be suspicious. Don't. So after they learned which bank they needed to pick out, they would spend a few days scouting it out, you know, kind of walking by, glancing at who's standing outside. Nova might even go in and have a look around while she was asking for a money order or something innocuous

like that. Denver Post says they went to Bend, Oregon in December of ninety eight, when tons of wealthy people were on high end ski vacations, and they befriended a local cocktail waitress named Carrie Black. They gave their names as Will Hicks and Alex Stantini, saying they were in town to party, and they rented a two month condo and joined a Gold's gym. That's what I do when I'm ready to party, join the gym. Look, if you're the hot athletic type, and when you go on vacation,

you continue to exercise. I've learned this when traveling with hot athletic types. Who you traveling with, who's hot athletic? You know? All right, Well, I've heard it from people. Well, this gym happened to be directly across the street from the Klamath First Federal Bank, So Nova and Craig would lift weights while they watched people come and go from the bank, and they learned the traffic patterns. Also something you've got to be already an athletic person to do.

That's true. Because I'm standing there and I'm like three pumps in, I'm like, okay, right, I can't watch the bank anymore. You can have like a five pounder, you know what I mean? Yeah, right, everyone's going to be That guy's been here for six hours. He's not even sweating, or he's sweating, but all he's done is like sit down and stand back up again a few times. It's about the reps. Okay, to weight, Yeah, I'm going for stamina here. We all have different bests. Okay, no judgment

right there on the wall right there. Not at Golds. That's plenty of it. Yeah, Golds, just like, please judge me. A few days before they hit a bank, they would go out and buy a police scanner and a couple of walkie talkies and they would either steal or buy cheap cars to drive to the bank, and then they had another car ready to swap too for after the robbery. So they wouldn't show up and leave in the same car. Gotcha now. Nova would stay outside in the car and

act as a lookout while Craig went inside. And I'll say that it's been referenced that Craig was sometimes with another male who was never identified, probably not the same guy every time though, So he would he would just hire someone to kind of come in and help. He would wear gauze on his face or a mask to hide his identity, and he was very aggressive in his approach. Like I said, no slipping notes. He would. He would walk in, pull out his gun right away and point

it straight at the bank teller's face. He would tell everyone to get down, and then they go around and tie everyone up at the wrists and ankles with either duct tape or zip ties. Nova would stay with him on the two way radio and she would alert him if anyone approaching the bank or any other signs of trouble while she listened to the police scanner for the

code to eleven, which meant robbery in progress. But Craig he would bust in with such force and terror that the bank employees were usually too startled to strip the alarm. Bank manager Bill Olsen told reader's Digest quote. I thought it was a joke at first. He got my attention when he cocked the gun and threatened to blow my head off. Every other word was an obscenity. He knew how to terrorize. Yeah, Craig would order the tellers to

pull the shade on the drive up window. Then he'd bring employees back to the vault and make one of them stuffed deffelbacks full of cash. Then he would tie that employee up last before escaping to the car, Nova keep a bucket of water in the car. Craig would dump all their loot to destroy any tracking devices that had been hidden inside. Then the two of them would drive to a predesignated location and swap cars. It was

over in minutes, fast, efficient, and ruthless. After the Klamath robbery in Bend, they went back to their condo and counted one hundred and twenty thousand dollars in cash. Wow, which again, for the record, is worth almost twice that year. Yeah,

like over two hundred thousand, my goodness. Then Craig would burn the mask that he wore, whatever zip ties or duct tape he had left over, even the jacket that he wore to the robbery, got burned, and the next day he would dispose of the walkie talkies and the police scanner. Now before they left town after the Bend robbery, Reader's Digest says that they gifted the title of their first car, the Subaru, to the cocktail waitress that they met, Carrie Black. Oh. They were like, you were a real

friendly kid. Here's a car for you. He gave us some really good information. Couldn't have done it without yet, and it's just like, do I keep this hoops. After that they left town, including the Bend, Oregon robbery, Craig and Nova went on a spree, hitting banks all across the west, from Oregon, Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, and even

back in Arizona. Tom van Meter, a robbery detective with the Scottsdale Police, said, quote I consider Craig one of the more intelligent bank robbers, and Detective Don Vogel said that what separated them from other bank robbers was their planning. He said, quote they were not impulsive, They did their homework, They did surveillance. Detective Don Vogel straight from nineteen twenty. Yeah, yeah, he's been around. He's kind I've seen some things I

worked on Capome. No, they really do seem to think of everything. Yeah, I mean they got it all worked out again. You got a whole system going. You know. Somebody said, oh, I got caught because I drove away in the same car I showed up with. You know. Another guy's like, you know what, they always get me. They put a little electronic tracking device in the bag there. That's right. If I just thought to soak it in some water. And Craig's like, okay, taking notes, taking notes? Yes, man,

this crime conference is great. I'm learning so much. It's really about the community. They should charge me. Oh wait, they do. They did charge me right here with crime now. Craig was as adept at hiding from the law as he was at breaking it. He and Nova used fake names and fake ideas. They charmed locals. They never acted suspiciously. In between robberies, they took luxurious trips. They would go skiing in the mountains or fly to the tropics to

go snorkel and surf. They blew their money quickly. Craig loved expensive clothes, fancy watches, and top shelf booze, so they kept kind of a permanent vacation, going Robin Banks, spending cash, and a crazy cycle of luxury and larceny. I don't hate it, I know, I mean, sounds pretty great. American dream hostess crime doesn't pay it sound sounds like it's paying really well. I mean, isn't that. The problem is that, like we tried saying that and then it

turned out to be alive. Now, by the late nineties, they had stolen and estimated half million dollars, and they had been featured multiple times on America's Most Wanted, so people were starting to recognize them wrong kind of fame. Yeah, and tips started flowing into the FBI, and they came close to being caught a few times, but they always stayed a few steps ahead. Then, after two years of criming, everything changed. Nova really wanted to visit her family back

in Phoenix. She and Craig had been fighting, and she insisted that she'd be able to see them again, despite the risks, Because, of course, again America's Most Wanted Unsolved Mysteries, their faces were out there. At the time. Nova didn't realize though, that only Craig was technically a wanted fugitive. The FBI had no evidence licking her to any crime.

But they decided that they were going to take the risk and stop in and see her parents and siblings, and of course they were thrilled to see Nova, but they resented Craig for what he'd gotten her into. So her brother confronted Craig in the driveway while Nova was inside, and he told him, hey, buddy, you're gonna get the hell out of here. You're done with my sister. You know, I'm gonna give you an hour head start or whatever.

He just told him to go. It's really funny. Actually, in the Unsolved Mysteries episode, I watched the reenactment, they got this pretty boy playing the brother and he says, he says, you're gonna get out of here. You're gonna get in your fancy little car and you're gonna go. J I thought was such a good like improv line, you get me car, fancy little are fancy little car. So Craig left, so they knew they were stealing all

this stuff, but they didn't turn them in. No, they were just like, you know, I think they really just wanted Nova back, and they were they're very religious, so they're probably like, you know, God's plan whatever he'll he'll he'll get his right. But I think they wanted Nova back, and maybe if they turned him in a Nova could have gotten caught if the police came right there, because they would also know Nova was back, and b Nova would probably resent them, and they're like, we don't want

to push her away when she just got back. I guess I can see that. Yeah, that's my speculation, station. I don't really know exactly well. Nova learned that Craig had split and she was a little uncertain about what to do next without him, and she spoke with her sister, who convinced her to at least talk with a religious leader, the police chaplain of the Colorado State Police, William Faye,

and he agreed to speak with her confidential. He told Unsolved Mysteries quote, I think deep in her heart she wanted to be forgiven, but she didn't know how to go about it. Good chaplain voice, Thank you, I thought so. I was like, I only want to get some weight. Yeah it now. Nova told him she thought she was in trouble. He read scripture to her and asked her, quote, what do you think it is now that God would want you to do? And Nova said quote turn myself in.

Its yeah, but it's not the right turn myself in. That's probably more like it. So Faye took her to the police station and they agreed to speak with the FBI. So was this the end of the line for these criminal cohorts? We will find out right after this break Welcome back Crime Conference goers. Don't miss don't miss dinner tonight at the Commissary seven pm. We'll be having a mystery meat flavorless mashed mush and dry beans. Stay out of jail kids, the food is ter and good luck

at and a vegetarian option. I'll tell you that for my twelve hours stint, your hard time, hard time, Kenny was hard, and they were apologized to me. I wasn't supposed to be there so much. I still want to pay money. God, what a racket. Our prison systems a racket. Anyway, So Nova sat with the FBI for a four hour interview and she laid everything out. She told them about all the robberies and how they were committed, all the details about everything, and they're probably like, he did what,

Oh my god, a bucket of water. That's brilliant. Why didn't we think of that? From now on, we're putting all our tracking devices in little plastic baggies. Well, FBI agent Jane Munroe told Unsolved Mysteries that they didn't arrest Nova at that time because, quote, they hadn't done any investigation to corroborate her story, and they didn't have enough probable cause to get an authorized warrant. Plus they kind of hope that she would just help them track down Craig.

So they were very much like, we're here to help where you know, you're not going to get any trouble. Just give us the info and we'll get this all sorted out. I mean, he was bad news, but Nova seemed to be just, you know, some young girl who got charmed and swept up into this whole thing. Her friend Dan Knos said that Nova quote would have to picture herself as a Robin Hood, not a Bonnie and Clyde. She was always the underdog the fancy resorts. That doesn't

fit her at all. That's a place to hide. Knowing her, she'd be more likely to hide out under bridges with the bums. So I wonder if it was Novah's idea to give the car to that cocktail waitress. Oh maybe so Yeah, she's got a bit of charity in her. Yeah, let's do some good with all this. But it seems like the fancy resorts do suit her pretty well. Yeah, well maybe even it might have been all Craig's I suppose, you know, plan to do that, and she's just like, sure,

I mean sounds good. You want to go to snorkeling the tropics. I mean it. You know, I'm not going to not have fun doing that. Sure, sure, sure, But maybe she was like, but I'm glad that we're supporting all these workers, the local business, the local business. We have to eat local when we're there. Yeah. But after her sudden and surprising cooperation with the FBI, Nova made another unexpected move. She contacted Craig, met with him, and

together they disappeared again. Oh. Psychologist Frank Fay from Temple University said, quote, she had second thoughts about going with Craig, stepped back from the brink, then realized it's boring back here. I'm going back to the brink. I'm so true. Let me get back to the break. So true, he said. The thrill of the lifestyle was just too enticing. He added, quote, my guess is that after these robberies. It's into bed. It's a thrill, it's exciting. You just want to keep

the thrill going. Yeah, Jay, they would like, go do it afterwards. Yeah, it's like sexual. Yeah, so full of energy. Yeah sure, sure, Like God, you're so hot. Yeah. When you ran in there and cocked a gun and had purteller space, right, I was like, Wow, what an underdog baby. When you got in the radio and we're like I haven't heard anyone say two eleven yet, Oh, I was just like, man, that's the girl from me. Well, after

Nova disappeared, the FBI was fully on this case. They poured over her interview with all four hours of footage, and they learned that they almost always stayed at a Super eight motel in between robberies, so the detective sent their photo to every Super eight in the country. They sent swarms of FBI agents to Craig's sons baseball games, expecting maybe he'll show up for the championship or something. But Craig never showed his son's like I look for

him every time. Be on the lookout for dad of the Year now, right, But Barry Bonds comes to my if only Laurie Polzato had married Barry Bonds. Afterwards, He's probably thought the same thing. Will that fall. Nineteen ninety nine, Craig and Nova allegedly robbed a bank in Spokane, Washington, before leaving the country. Witnesses saw them at a hockey game in Nova, Scotia, and Canada before they vanished without

being seen again for years. Another episode of Unsolved Mysteries came out about them, as well as America's Most Wanted, but Craig and Nova were long gone. First, they went to Belize, and they spent about eight months snorkeling and fishing on the paradise island of Amber Green, k And I did look up pictures and I'm ready, when you are right, go rob a bank for this. I've considered it, you know, It's like I want to go that badly, but I could never pull it off. I don't have

the stamina. Clearly, I couldn't spend eight hours at the gym watching a bank. Obviously me neither. I would definitely like my I would be like thinking other things and completely like I'd be like, oh, I forgot I was even looking at it the bank. I've been watching the Wendy's the sign Spinner out there is just so distracting

dreaming about those French prize. Well anyway, their money was running thin, and Nova would take work at local restaurants while Craig played around in day trading, which he had some talent for, and they kept moving, going on to other countries like England in Greece, but after the September eleventh attacks in two thousand and one, they knew that security would be way too high to return to the United States again, so they kept moving and in two

thousand and three they ended up in Cape Town, South Africa, where Nova got a job at a hot spot called the Bossanova Club under the name Andy Brown. Craig went by Dane, and he visited the club frequently while he spent the day's work in stocks online. But their criminal days actually seemed to be way behind them. They blended in they had these jobs. They drove a used Volkswagen Beetle.

Patrons and co workers said that Andy and Dane were pleasant, lovely people who worked with professional diligence and helped out around town. But then a South African tourist was in the US and she saw a wanted notice and on it was a picture of Andy the manager at the Bossanova Club. So she contacted the FBI and she said, and why it's all the South Africans just braced themselves for this accent that's coming. I shouldn't should I it's the hardest accent to day, really hard. Leo in that

Blood Diamond movie. I'm like, even I don't even think he pulled it off. No, a lot of people didn't think that I'm channeling my Diante word. Oh yeah, um God, can't channel them anymore. They sucks to love die word. But that guy sucks, all right. So this So the South African woman contacted the FBI and she was like, she was like, she was like, hey, I know that lady. Oh lady, Hey, I know that lady. She's in District nine. I love District nine. That's great movie. It's such a

good movie movie. An FBI agent, Mike Sandborn, thought that this was a long shot. I have some club, some club manager in South Africa, like a likely story. But he contacted a connection that he had in South Africa to ask what Cape Town was like, and he got a one sentence response, quote, Cape Town is a fugitive haven. Oh so, tourist posters maybe I'll take a closer lug. Yeah,

cape down the Home of Crime conference twenty three. Well, Agent Sandborn went to the Boston Nova Club's website and just started pouring through pictures from their parties, hundreds of photos, and he said, quote, I got to about picture three hundred, and there she was, plain as day. Damn. Now, South Africa has an extradition treaty with the US, so local police helped the FBI stake out the club. They were pretty sure that Andy, this American girl with tattoos that

matched Nova's, was the girl they were looking for. But it wasn't until Craig walked in and kissed her that they knew for sure it was them. Oh kiss of death. Kiss of death, right the Judas kiss, except it also got him arrested. Didn't even know he was doing it. Now. Four nights later, in their cheap ocean side apartment, police arrested them without incident. There was a pile of fake passports in the apartment, but no weapons are cash and

agents said quote. They were living near the poverty level, and the owner of the club, Karapidis, had lent them money a few times, and he was shocked when he learned the truth about them. He said Nova had access to all the club's bank codes and accounts and said, quote, they could have taken close to a half million dollars. It seems obvious to me that they came here to change. Yeah, I mean it really does seem like that she was running their books. I guess so. I mean, would you

would you steal from the the place you worked? Well, here's the thing, I mean, I guess not until you were ready to move on. Well, that's like, yeah, that's part of it. I mean, first of all, it's not like, oh, well, you're absolved of your crimes because you stopped doing them, obviously, But it does seem like they didn't want to do it anymore. I mean, they'd been there for years. They led a pretty low key lifestyle. I think that they were just looking for a place to live on the

beach and snorkel and kind of realized. I think they sort of found what they wanted. They got enough of that thrill, yeah, and they were like, all right, well what were we getting out of it? Once the adrenaline wore off? You know, we were chilling beach bums. They were just you know, beach bums. Was hundreds of thousands of dollars, and now they were like, well, let's let's try it with just some easy jobs. Straight. Yeah. I think they took some pride in their work and made

a lot of friends do again. The community loved them right, so I could see them being like, let's just stay here, let's quit running, you know. Craig said that too, He said, you know, we were we were done, We were relaxed, we were trying to blend in. We were tired of running, and we kind of stopped looking over our shoulders, which is why I think Nova's picture ended up online and

that kiss they shared was likely their last. After extradition, Nova got sent to Denver for arrangements and Craig went to Phoenix, and in May of two thousand and three, Nova Guthrie pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery and agreed to testify against Craig Pritchard. As part of her plea deal, she faced up to twenty years in prison, but she was sentenced in September of that year to ten years plus two hundred and thirty one thousand dollars

in restitution. Craig was a suspect in about twelve bank robberies in total, but under his plea deal, he was charged and pled guilty to only three. He faced up to eighty years in prison, but he was sentenced to twenty two years, with over two hundred thousand dollars in restitution and a million dollars in fines. Oh yeah yeah.

His court appointed lawyer, Patricia Getri, said her office was flooded with calls from national news outlets, TV shows, date Line, Access, Hollywood, and more, including Hollywood producers seeking movie rights, but she said she was not willing to be his entertainment agents, and she also believed that if it weren't for the romantic connection between him and Nova, nobody would have even noticed this story. It would have just been some two

bit bank robbers. We sure wouldn't be telling it. That's true. Oh. When asked what Craig thought of the media attention, according to the East Valley Tribune, Getra replied, quote, she didn't care what he thought. She does not seem fond if this guy is her client. Listen, the guy stole. I'm just trying to do my job and get him off my client list. I'm a court appointed lawyer. I ain't trying to take up. I love that too, that she's like. I could see her screaming in the phone, like, listen,

he's just a bank robber. If it weren't for his girlfriend, if they weren't attractive, if they weren't all these things, you would not care. So get off my case. I'm trying to get off this case. I'm trying to get off this case. Are you get up by the Tribune also says that if Craig does see any financial gains from the media attention, like selling his rights to a movie, quote, the courts are likely to mandate the money be used

for restitution. Right their friends. A nightclub owner, Carapetas, said that they should be considered for parole because quote, they're not the same people they were, and they never hurt anybody but Max. Alexander of Reader's Digest cites Craig's first wife, Lori Pulzato, who used to be a bank teller but quit herself after being robbed at gunpoint in a totally separate incident. She said, quote, the mental durest during robbery is extreme. What flashes through your mind is your kids,

and you're just praying, please don't kill me. And she says their kids together are victims as well. They were stigmatized in school and in sports because of their biological fathers infamy. You know, So it wasn't you know, it wasn't long before kids realized who they were, right, and now they're getting teased and her ass and probably judged, I imagine unfairly. So she's feeling like they did hurt people even though they did not. Yeah, and I really

see that too. And that's the hard part of being like, Hey, this lifestyle ain't so bad. Nobody gets hurt. They got all this money, they're vacationing, they're snorkeling, they're going with skiing. But people do get hurt. I mean, this is a terrifying, traumatizing experience. You're in a criminal situation where you don't know if your life is in danger. That that doesn't go away. Yeah, And I guess at least with Laurie,

her career ended, right, Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So it's like he was the Barry Bonds for a teller, coming in, ruining their future, messing up their career. Oh, Craig, you've become the thing you hate him becomes for bank tellers across the West. Kapetus also says that he spoke to Craig in prison, who told him that he feels responsible for what he did to Nova. That quote, he feels he's the one who got her into trouble. But Alexander reports that Nova's own family does not hold that same

sympathy for her. Her mom said, quote, had she served the Lord and not straight from what she knew, this would not have happened. And her brother, who introduced Nova to Craig, said, quote, we all follow a path, don't we. He had a life to lead, and she had a choice to follow. And I mean, I kind of agree with that she should have gotten in her fancy little cart. I mean, I do agree with that we do make choices, but I also would also attribute possibly I don't know them.

Her mother is supposed to be a lovely person who like cares for the elderly in town and stuff like that, but also like you know, they had very strict rules and upbringing, and like you know, it's one out of eight is statistically going to act out. No, statistically just saying people make their own choices and they the law, but we also need to look at, you know, where they came from. And what kind of environment they were

in and that kind of thing too. I'm not saying there's fault there, but maybe look inward too, and don't just brush it off as like, well, that's your problem child I raised. No, I get that. I just I do hate it as an excuse for not taking accountability like you have. You know, Nova had a lot of agency in this story to make her decisions, is absolutely so.

It's it's kind of like, partly you want to be like I do think that there's some extenuating circumstances and this guy's very charming, and you can get caught up and all that stuff, but you have to still own the fact that, Like, but I am a unique individual and I can make my own choices, and I had my own I had a time where I got to say yes or no, right and I made my decision, and know what I mean, aware of the consequences, who could be hurt and all this stuff and whatever you

did to justify it to yourself. I think it's clear that Nova's choices aren't Craig's responsibility, right, but maybe her family could be a little more sympathetic since I think they're partly their responsibility a little bit, or at least they're involved in those choices. Yeah. Well, Nova has served her time, she has since been released, and from what we could find, she appears to be teaching yoga at

an upscale resort in Costa Rica. Well, okay, I find this website and her Nova Guthrie, teach us here and I'm looking at this picture. They've got her head shot and her old pictures and I'm like, yeah, that's her. But they surprisingly don't mention in her bio on the website her criminal past. It doesn't come up. And personally I say that we I'll just leave Nova alone and let her get on with her life. Yeah, but Craig is due out of prison in twenty twenty five, and

he'll have three years of monitored parole after that. Now, whether they meet up again, that's anyone's guests. But Karapede said both of them immediately asked about the other when he visited them in jail. He had found an email that Craig wrote to Nova only a few hours before their arrest, where Craig said, quote, thank you princess for always taking care of me. I don't know what I'd

do without you. La Times writes that when asked back in two thousand and three before they went to jail if they would have any future contact, Craig said, in his interview quote, that would be up to Nova. I hope so, And in her interview, Nova told them quote, it's just a matter of time. Okay. So they're still in love and wanting to be together they thought they would be in two thousand and three. Yeah, it's hard to say. I mean, what twenty two years later, will

they meant back up again? Has Nova moved on and reconsidered like what Craig put her through and the life he brought her into and the choices he made, or is she like, you know what, forget all about we'd found a life together outside of crime, right, and we transcended it and we still belong together. Who knows? I want to know part of me. It's tough with this. This is one of those stories where I'm like, man,

this Craig sucks. He was so awful to his first wife. Yeah, and obviously like terrorized quite a few people who have lasting trauma, and he definitely deserved to go to jail and get find a ton of money. But dang it, if the love lover and me doesn't just want those kids to get back together and live happily of her hose crazy kids, they learned their lesson. I mean, you hope, you hope, you hope I and I do believe that.

You know, for all the many near infinite problems that we have in our court and prison system, I do generally think that if someone gets sentenced and they serve that sentence, and then they can keep their ship together when they get out, you know, all right, go on life. I don't have to be your friend, no, but you know, I'm not going to go protest outside your house and throw mud at your windows or anything like that either, right,

especially for non violent crimes or something like this. Or again, I mean, as we say, there's some violent elements, yeah, because people are getting traumatized from the gun in their face and screaming at them and all that. But he actually never like did physical damage or took a life or anything. So yeah, I would be like, well, you did your time. You know, you paid your debt to society. I guess you're good now, right, And the other side of it too, of course, that is just a problem

I can't solve. Is that what level of retribution. Can we do upon this person that brings peace back to their victims? You know? And I don't think there is a level. I don't know. I don't like it. I don't like having to worry about it. That's why I elect other people to deal with those problems. Well. And it's probably like if you were one of those tellers, right, and someone asked you, well, what do you want? Yeah, I mean likely your answer is going to be I

don't want them to do it anymore. I just don't want anyone else to go through what I went through. I think you know what I mean. Yeah, that's the rise above it all the emotion answer. Sure, sure, I mean you know, of course some people are like I wish I could kick them off in the nuts or something. That's what they should let you do. Just let you kick him in the nut the nuts. Do you feel better? I do? Actually, traumada, I faced my traumatizer. I punished

him in some way. No, but I just, uh so, I feel like if if they really are seriously like we're done with crime, we were trying to lead a normal straight life in South Africa, and we would be yoga instructors and day traders in Costa Rica or whatever. Um, I mean that's kind of the best you can hope for, right right, And then of course the upcoming book The Heart of Novah Guthrie, The Heart of Nova Guthrie, which

Rhese Witherspoon is adapting. Well, stay tuned for I think we're up to an eighteen picture deal with HBO right now, I think so, right, several seasons television, so this will definitely be one of them. I kind of want to put together a crime con. Oh man, we got to call our friends over a ridiculous crime. Now, yes, they should definitely be a part and this could be a really cool sting operation and would then make its own great movie because it's us coming over with a crime con.

All the criminals come my best practices ed arrected. So you're a narc. I'm a nice what is? But only for like bad criminals? Only the bad one, only the bad ones? All right? Well, if you've ever done anything wrong, don't trust Diana. Don't trust me. I'm over here. Like why didn't her parents turn her in? Damn? Yeah? Wow, you really are? But I do think I do you not get in trouble for that? Like if someone if you know someone's committing crimes, like, yeah, the only thing

she wasn't wanted oh right at the time. So yeah, so she was doing stuff. I don't think that they necessarily knew she was doing stuff. Again, there was no evidence saying Noah ever committed a crime. All they knew was that she was with him and he was committing crimes. I see. Okay, so they would just like, get away from your criminals. They really just wanted her away from him, come back to the light, let's start over. You're safe here with us, I see. Just get away from that loser. Yeah.

Well this was a crazy story about a very loving criminal couple. Yeah yeah, you know again weird part of me is rooting for him, but also like this guy sucks, and also I want to live a life where I'm just like get large amounts of cash and then blow it in the tropics and then get more cash. I know, you can see the attraction. What's the non crime version of that podcasting? Right? I think it's having a job

traveling podcast show, a traveling podcast. We just make a bunch of money and then spend a bunch of money. That's all I need. I don't need a home. Oh well, I mean not, I need somewhere to live, but just temporarily while I'm in until the next place. Yeah, all right, it's like a nomad living that nomad life. Yes, so email us and tell us how much money you would donate to our travel show, Nomad Life, Our Nomad Life Ever ridic Romance at gmail dot com right or slide

into the DMS on Instagram. I'm at Dynamite Boom and I'm at Oh great, it's Eli and the show is at ridic Romance. It's right. Thank you so much for tuning in today and spending your time with us. We love hearing from you. Keep those five star reviews coming if we love those two. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll catch you all the next one. Love you by so long. Friends, It's time to go. Thanks for listening to our show. Tell your friends names uncles in this listen to much your ridiculous Well mansh