Hard times push 73-year-old to rob bank to pay mortgage!!!

Remember Bonnie & Clyde -- the infamous duo who robbed banks during the Great Depressioin?

Now meet James Bruce.

Bruce is 73, hardly your typical bank robbery suspect. And friends say he's kind, courteous and smart. But the economy has hit him really hard.

Now Tampa cops say Bruce robbed three banks, taking only $600 each time -- to pay his mortgage.

Bruce is being held in a Hillsborough County jail on $22,500 bail and is charged with three counts of strongarm robbery. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison for each charge.

"He's trying to keep his family in their home, but you can't go about it by robbing a bank," Tampa Police Detective Rachel Cholnik said, reports the Tampa Tribune.

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