Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This bank robbery was the first of its kind - and in all likelihood, the last.
"On January 6, 1995, McArthur Wheeler and Clifton Earl Johnson robbed two banks in the Greater Pittsburgh area at gunpoint. At 2:47 p.m., at the Swissvale branch of Mellon Bank, one of them stuck up the teller with a semi-automatic handgun while the other waited in line. They left together after obtaining US$5,200 (equivalent to $10,730 in 2024). The other robbery took place at Fidelity Savings Bank in Brighton Heights.
Neither robber wore a mask or otherwise attempted to disguise themselves, having instead applied lemon juice to their faces. According to Wheeler, Johnson had told him lemon juice would make one invisible to security cameras, akin to how it functions as invisible ink. Although initially skeptical, Wheeler had tested this method by covering his face with lemon juice and capturing an image of it with a Polaroid camera. As he was missing from the resulting photograph, he trusted the method to be effective. Detectives believed his absence in the image was caused either by a bad film, a maladjusted camera, or Wheeler having unintentionally pointed the camera away from his face.
Johnson was arrested on January 12. A surveillance photograph of Wheeler was broadcast as part of a Pittsburgh Crime Stoppers segment with the 11:00 p.m. news on April 19. Anonymous tips subsequently led to Wheeler's arrest at 12:10 a.m. on April 20, less than an hour after the broadcast. When shown the photographs in which he had been identified, Wheeler was shocked and exclaimed "But I wore the lemon juice. I wore the lemon juice." Johnson pleaded guilty to the heist at Mellon Bank as well as two unrelated robberies from 1994. He testified against Wheeler and was given a five-year prison sentence on October 27. Judge Gary L. Lancaster sentenced Wheeler to 24+1⁄2 years in prison, followed by three years of probation, on January 5, 1996, for the Swissvale stickup. Charges for the Brighton Heights case were dropped."
More on Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Greater_Pittsburgh_bank_robberies
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This bank robbery was the first of its kind - and in all likelihood, the last.
"On January 6, 1995, McArthur Wheeler and Clifton Earl Johnson robbed two banks in the Greater Pittsburgh area at gunpoint. At 2:47 p.m., at the Swissvale branch of Mellon Bank, one of them stuck up the teller with a semi-automatic handgun while the other waited in line. They left together after obtaining US$5,200 (equivalent to $10,730 in 2024). The other robbery took place at Fidelity Savings Bank in Brighton Heights.
Neither robber wore a mask or otherwise attempted to disguise themselves, having instead applied lemon juice to their faces. According to Wheeler, Johnson had told him lemon juice would make one invisible to security cameras, akin to how it functions as invisible ink. Although initially skeptical, Wheeler had tested this method by covering his face with lemon juice and capturing an image of it with a Polaroid camera. As he was missing from the resulting photograph, he trusted the method to be effective. Detectives believed his absence in the image was caused either by a bad film, a maladjusted camera, or Wheeler having unintentionally pointed the camera away from his face.
Johnson was arrested on January 12. A surveillance photograph of Wheeler was broadcast as part of a Pittsburgh Crime Stoppers segment with the 11:00 p.m. news on April 19. Anonymous tips subsequently led to Wheeler's arrest at 12:10 a.m. on April 20, less than an hour after the broadcast. When shown the photographs in which he had been identified, Wheeler was shocked and exclaimed "But I wore the lemon juice. I wore the lemon juice." Johnson pleaded guilty to the heist at Mellon Bank as well as two unrelated robberies from 1994. He testified against Wheeler and was given a five-year prison sentence on October 27. Judge Gary L. Lancaster sentenced Wheeler to 24+1⁄2 years in prison, followed by three years of probation, on January 5, 1996, for the Swissvale stickup. Charges for the Brighton Heights case were dropped."
More on Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Greater_Pittsburgh_bank_robberies
Join membership: youtube.com/channel/UCGHDQtN_vzFYJaq_Fx1eikg/join
Second Channel: youtube.com/channel/UCt93hxFmjppL5nLRAX94UrA
Merch: qxir.creator-spring.com
Patreon: patreon.com/qxir
Twitter: twitter.com/QxirYT
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