CA bank robber foiled by vanity plates bearing own name

Zach Bowman — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:32:00 EST

Filed under: SUV, Etc., Ford, Police/Emergency

There's no such thing as the perfect crime, but some criminals are clearly more perfect than others. According to UT San Diego, a man wearing latex gloves and sunglasses recently strolled into a Chase Bank in San Diego, pointed a gun at a teller and began demanding money. The teller wisely obliged, handing over $2,920 in cash before the robber took to his vehicle and fled in a white Ford Expedition. Onlookers were quick to jot down the vehicle's vanity license plate, which read ALMDUDE. It didn't take police long to track down the vehicle's owner, 27-year-old Robert Alm.

While we're not surprised to hear of a their using their own vehicle to flee a crime scene, using one with vanity plates proudly proclaiming the thief's name is something new. Alm has since been booked on suspicion of robbery. Police say the man is homeless and has been living in the Expedition.

CA bank robber foiled by vanity plates bearing own name originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Woodward 2009: License plates - They're the original Twitter!

Sam Abuelsamid — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:54:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Misc. Auto Shows, Humor

Woodward license plates - Click above for high-res image gallery

These days, Twitter is all the rage as a means for the digitally inclined to communicate their thoughts in bursts of 140 characters or less. However, that 140 character limit is positively verbose compared to an older and more established means of short messaging. Drivers long ago realized that certain combinations of letters and numbers could be used to send messages in less than seven characters. One of this blogger's all time favorites was a classic Lamborghini Countach with the plate IXLR8.

While that particular Lambo didn't appear at this year's Woodward festivities, there were plenty of other interesting messages sent out. As far as we're concerned, the best plates are the ones that don't take too much brain power to decipher. Sometimes, the license plate phrase reinforces something about the car's behavior - such as the FASSST plate on one Cobra. Other times, drivers use onomatopoeia like the BRMBRUM plate on another Shelby snake. Still others, such as the LVNGLYF plate we saw on a Lotus Elise, are more descriptive of the car's driver. Check out our entire gallery below of interesting plates from the 2009 Woodward Dream Cruise.

Gallery: Woodward 2009: License plates – They're the original Twitter!

Woodward 2009: License plates - They're the original Twitter! originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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