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82-year-old charged with robbery - but what really happened? Friends stunned as Arthur Bays tells court he needed money for bills, rent

Arthur Bays spent his 82nd birthday on Friday in federal court, his first public appearance after being charged with robbing a bank in Benton.

According to prosecutors, Bays robbed the State Bank of Whittington branch in Benton of $12,528 on Thursday afternoon, wearing a ball cap and a pair of sunglasses and with what looked like a gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans. He is seen on surveillance footage using a cane.

After authorities made public the bank's surveillance film that same day, Bays was arrested several hours later at his home in Marion.

In court on Friday, Bays told authorities he needed money to pay bills and pay his rent. He lives in the Homer Butler Highrise, a subsidized building in Marion.

During his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Benton on Friday, federal prosecutors said Bays is charged with one count of bank robbery.

He faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted.

People who have known Bays for years are stunned. He owned Bays Thriftway grocery store in Marion for nearly three decades.

"It's sad," said Bill Hill, the sales manager for Bunny Bread, who delivered bread to Bays Thriftway from 1973 until the store closed in the early 1990s.

"That man wouldn't take a penny if something wasn't wrong," said Hill.

According to Rebecca Smith, something was very wrong.

Smith, a server at Andresen's Café in Johnston City, said until about two weeks ago Bays, a widower, came to the restaurant every day for the $3 senior citizen meal. When she saw him recently, she asked why he stopped coming. "He said he couldn't afford the meal," she said.

"I told him not to worry, that at the very least the store or other customers would cover it," she said. "I think he got embarrassed that he didn't have the $3."

Andresen's offers senior citizens meals, and operates the local Meals on Wheels program.

Smith, who has known Bays since she was a child, said he cared about his customers as people.

"My mom was a single mother," she said. "We lived about five blocks from his store and he would always help my mom, letting her take a cart to carry groceries so she didn't have to carry all the bags and try to hold on to us kids."

Bays told Smith that his Social Security checks stopped coming about four or five months ago, and that when he called, he was told he didn't "exist" in the system.

"That's not right," Smith said. "Our elderly, our children, and our veterans are the three highest priorities of this country."

Bays is believed to have served during the Korean War.

A check of court records on judici.com reveals a 2011 foreclosure judgment against Bays of $68,751.66, finding for the Bank of Marion and Parkway Manor, a skilled nursing facility in Marion; and a 2010 default judgment of $11,921 against Bays in favor of Parkway Manor.

According to Hill, Bays was usually on the giving end of any situation.

"He did a lot for Marion and the community when he was in business," he said. "That store was the first big market in Marion and he ran a really, really good business. He competed very well with the all the chain stores."

Hill said when that he was a child, Bays once flew Santa Claus into town on a helicopter.

"None of us had ever seen one before," he said.

Beth Butler, daughter of longtime former Marion mayor Bob Butler, said she has known Bays since she was a child.

"This is not a typical thing he would do," she said. "There has to be some other issue."

A spokesperson at the State Bank of Whittington branch on Friday referred all questions to the FBI.

According to the official complaint, of the $12,528 stolen from the bank investigators recovered $1,060 from Bays' right shirt pocket, $41 from his left front shirt pocket, $1,200 from his wallet and $8,528 from a Veterans Affairs pharmacy bag in the trunk of his vehicle.

That totals $10,829, leaving $1,699 currently unaccounted for.

Authorities said Bays told investigators the gun he used in the bank job was a toy, and a toy gun was recovered from a trash can in Bays' home.

During the court appearance, federal prosecutors asked for bond to be withheld stating that the reason Bays gave for committing the robbery - financial stress - is still present.

Judge Reola Daly, however, citing Bays' lack of a previous criminal record, released him on conditional bail. The amount of the bail was not disclosed.

Bays had to surrender his passport, report any interaction with police, and restrict his travel to southern Illinois and southeastern Missouri (medical visits only).

Police released this surveillance photo of the suspect. Provided