The Curious Case Of DB Tuber

“This is slander, do you know who my parents are?” Anthony Curcio asked the police as they yelled for him to get down on the ground in a Target parking lot. 

His arrest was weeks in the making. 

The FBI and local authorities were trying to tie Anthony to a recent bank robbery. They’d been able to build enough evidence to convince him that he was the perpetrator, but until November 3, 2008, they hadn’t been able to make an arrest. 

They caught a break when a co-conspirator fingered Anthony as the brains behind the operation. Coupled with DNA taken from a Gatorade bottle filled with his spittle, investigators believed that they had enough to bring him in. 

But if they thought that Anthony was going to confess all to them, that plan was destined to fail. He remained stoic and claimed that he was innocent throughout the process. 

His trial ended with Anthony being convicted, despite prosecutors only having circumstantial evidence to tie him to the crime. At his sentencing, the judge gave him a 72-month (6 years) sentence. 

Prison wasn’t the only thing on Anthony’s mind, though. The situation caused friction in his marriage and a breakup seemed inevitable. For a man, who at one time seemed to have everything, things were looking bleak. 

Planning The Heist 

Anthony and his wife, Emily, flipped houses. They made a lot of money doing it, some in their social circle even thought they might get their own house renovation show. But then the housing market began to crash in 2007 and continued to do so well into 2008. 

While he was trying to keep his family afloat, Anthony also had another issue to contend with; an addiction to pain pills. During his days as a football player for the University of Idaho, the same college his father graduated from and fulfilling a childhood dream, he tore his anterior cruciate ligament. Continuing his football career was no longer an option. 

After graduating from college, he got clean and started his first business. He sold gambling equipment and merchandise. Things were going well until the Washington State Gambling Commission shut him down for not having the proper permits. 

That led him to fall off the wagon. 

Along with a few buddies, Anthony learned that a local real estate broker orchestrated the raid on his company. They got revenge by breaking into the broker’s office, taking files and computers. 

After that, Anthony and Emily began their real estate venture. Their early successes put them on a good road financially. But after one house took more money to renovate and brought in less money than expected, things began to look bad for the couple. And the pill addiction grew. 

With money running out, he had to find funds for his family. Anthony began watching the Brinks truck at the Bank of America branch closest to his house. He knew the routine of the driver down pat. As well, he had an idea of how much money was in the truck and in the ATM that was being serviced. 

Performing The Heist

After months of surveying the bank and Brinks truck, Anthony began to put his plan into motion. He asked a couple of friends to help him out. One was a lookout and the other was a getaway driver. 

Instead of leaving right from the bank, he decided it would be best to take the river down a bit and jump into a car there. He experimented with a jet ski, but it didn’t work out well. So, he decided to use a tube to float down the river, with the help of a zip line.

As the plan came together, he also posted a message on Craigslist. It told prospective employees that there was a landscaping job that would pay them $28.50 an hour. Anyone who showed up was to wear jeans, a blue shirt, work shoes, and a yellow safety vest. They also needed to wear safety goggles. The ad asked them to meet in the parking lot of Bank of America. 

Anthony planned everything perfectly. His outfit matched that of the people responding to the ad, to make it easier for him to slip away. Once everyone was there, he robbed the Brinks truck. He pepper-sprayed the truck driver’s eyes and grabbed as much cash as he could. 

Once he arrived at the river, he threw the money into the tube. Then he jumped in and pulled him to the meeting spot with the getaway driver. 

During this time, one of the people who showed up for the alleged job began to scream that the group had been scammed. Police showed up and there was a stunning lack of clues. 

Investigators wondered if they would be able to solve the case. 

Finding The Culprit

Right before the heist took place, a public works employee, Randy Oesch, told police about an unhoused man he encountered. He told them that the other man wanted to see them, but they’d blown it off. 

The unhoused man was Allan Dean. Once the police showed up, he was genuinely happy to see them. He explained that he’d been waiting. Then handed them a robbery kit that Anthony left behind. He also gave them the first big break of the case; a license plate number of a car that had been stalking the area in the weeks leading up to the robbery. 

It turned out that the license plate was registered to Emily Curcio. Investigators began to think it was another dead end, they were certain that the culprit was a man. But someone pointed out that they might be looking at the wrong spouse. Anthony began their main suspect. 

He did himself no favors by jetting off to Las Vegas shortly after the heist. 

Authorities began piecing the mystery together. It helped that the lookout man turned on his friend. He revealed that Anthony masterminded the operation. But they needed more, they needed something solid to tie Anthony to the crime. 

In the kit, there was a mask. They needed to get Anthony’s DNA and see if there was a match. He threw away a bottle of Gatorade that was filled with his tobacco gum spittle. It was enough to show that there was a match. 

With everything now leaning toward Anthony’s guilt, they went to the Target parking lot ready to arrest the man.

Trial And Redemption

Once Anthony was in custody, it seemed as if his marriage was going to come to an end. Emily had no idea what her husband did, and evidence suggests that he purposely kept her in the dark about it. 

Initially, the judge allowed him out on bail. But when it was revealed that Anthony was attempting to tamper with a witness. His bail was revoked and things got worse for him. 

At the trial, the state painted a picture of a privileged man. One who was cocky and believed he could do anything he wanted with impunity. They also pointed out that his pill addiction was leading him down a path of criminality. 

The jury convicted him. 

While in jail, Anthony was encouraged to write books. He started with his memoir, where he talked about the heist and his addiction. It was therapeutic for him. 

After his release, he and Emily worked on their marriage. She encouraged him to keep writing and to expand into children’s books. One of his most popular books, My Daddy’s In Jail. He wrote it to help kids who have a parent who is incarcerated. 

A criminal detour nearly cost Anthony Curcio everything. But the All-American football player has turned his life around and is now focusing on his family. 

It’s a happy ending for a fairy tale that nearly went sideways.