Transgender woman robs bank to go back to prison

Mugshot of Linda Patricia Thompson in Salem, Ore. Oregon Department of Corrections photo via AP.

by Sarah Boone
Journalism Intern

Transgender woman Linda Thompson robbed a bank in Cheyenne, Wyoming on July 27, 2016.

She gave the bank teller a note on a piece of cardboard that said: “I have a gun. Give me all your money,” authorities said on Friday.

Upon leaving the bank, instead of fleeing the scene of the crime, she threw several thousands of dollars into the air. She additionally offered pedestrians the money before she waited for the police to arrive.

Thompson told officials she wanted to go back to prison because she couldn’t live out on the streets anymore.

Thompson said she had been physically assaulted in a Cheyenne park, suffering facial fractures. She also was not able to get into one of the city’s homeless shelters.

According to the AP, “The 59-year-old was at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, Oregon, for a robbery conviction until her June release.”

Additionally, the Oregonian/Oregon Live reported Monday that Linda Patricia Thompson was featured a film called "Cruel and Unusual" that documents the lives of transgender inmates.

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The Gayly - 8/1/2015 @ 4:25 p.m. CDT