A notorious bank robber who spent eight years on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List after escaping from a federal prison in Texas.

The Paddock, nicknames included “Big Daddy” and “Chrome Dome,” was charged in 1960 with stealing about $25,000 from three separate bank branches in Phoenix, Arizona.

Paddock was 34 at the time, and had already been to prison twice for his role in what the Arizona Republic called “confidence games.”

Paddock was arrested shortly thereafter; a search of his vehicle turned up a loaded .38 snub-nose revolver, a blackjack, and about $3,000 in cash.

Prior to his arrest, Paddock had been living in Tucson with his wife and four kids. 

According to a newspaper account, the family’s neighbors said they couldn’t believe that Paddock—who was known as a “hot rod racer who keeps his head shaved so he resembles Yul Brynner”—“was involved in crime.”

Paddock, who pleaded not guilty to charges of armed robbery, was convicted by a jury in early 1961 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

On Dec. 31, 1968, Paddock, who admitted trying to sneak out of a Las Vegas jail after his arrest, broke free from a federal prison in La Luna, Texas.

6 months later,  the FBI added him to its 10 Most Wanted list.

After his disappearance, the career criminal wouldn’t surface again until 1978. He reappeared in Springfield, Ore., where he lived for an unknown length of time under the alias “Bruce Ericksen” while running a shady bingo parlor and a side-business turning back car odometers.

In 1987, the state attorney general charged him with civil racketeering in connection with the bingo parlor, but a judge let him off with a $100,000 fine. 

Paddock most likely spent his final 10 years living in Texas, where, according to the woman he lived with, he helped her run a machine shop and received a VA pension. 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/10/02/stephen_paddock_s_father_patrick_benjamin_paddock_was_a_bank_robber_wanted.html