A white man who pleaded guilty to six robberies in Ohio used a mask resembling an African-American man that was so lifelike that police initially arrested a black man for one of the crimes!
The mother of the wrongly accused man even thought a photo of the robbery suspect she saw on television was a photo of her son.
Conrad Zdzierak, 30, pleaded guilty last week in Hamilton County Ohio to one count of aggravated robbery and five counts of robbery in a plea deal with prosecutors.
'Conrad apologises to everyone, is sorry for any harm he has caused and accepts responsibility for his actions,' his lawyer Christopher McDowell said.
Zdzierak stole about $15,000 in the robberies of four banks, a credit union and a pharmacy that occurred in March and April - crimes in which witnesses reported that the robber was black and surveillance video appeared to show a black man.
Zdzierak's masked resemblance to the black man who was initially arrested was so similar that some witnesses even identified a photo of the black man as the one who robbed them, McDowell said.
The prosecutor's office would not release the name of the wrongly accused man.
Zdzierak was arrested at a hotel after his girlfriend called police after seeing reports of the robberies and finding two masks and money stained by dye that is used to track robbers, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
McDowell said his client purchased the masks from SPFXmasks, based in Van Nuys, California. The silicone masks 'look and behave like real flesh and muscle,' the company's website says.
Owner Rusty Slusser said his company's masks are normally bought for movies, Halloween, haunted houses and stage shows, but the Ohio case was not the first time they have been used for criminal purposes.
This sounds like it could be an isolated incident. But is it?! The owner of the company that makes the masks admitted that this is not the first time that his product has been used for criminal purposes. So as far as we know the practice of donning a "black mask" to committ crimes could actually be more widespread than we think. For all we know this could be a common practice amongst white criminals seeking to take advantage of a system which has been known to incarcerate African-American's at a much faster rate than their white counter parts. The prison industrial complex has provided instant suspects to make this conspiracy possible.
PR
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