It is usually never a thief's intent to get caught in the act. But for a seasoned robber in suburban Illinois, getting arrested may have been exactly what he wanted, according to local media reports.

A criminal complaint states 73-year-old Walter Unbehaun entered a bank in Niles, Ill., Saturday morning and gave a teller a note announcing a robbery, the Chicago Tribune reported. The man reportedly revealed a silver gun and told the teller: "I only have six months to live and have nothing to lose. I don't want to hurt you."

The teller handed over $4,178 in cash, and surveillance cameras at a nearby restaurant captured Unbehaun leaving the scene, according to the Tribune.

Authorities eventually arrested Unbehaun, of Rock Hill, S.C., on Sunday in North Chicago, the Tribune reported. He had been previously convicted of a 1998 bank robbery, the newspaper added.

The criminal complaint says Unbehaun told police he wanted to spend the rest of his life in prison, according to the Tribune. He claimed he'd spent most of his adult life in prison and "wanted to go back as he felt more comfortable in prison than out," the complaint reportedly noted.

This is not the first time someone has asked to be locked up. Last month, a Bremerton, Wash., woman asked a cop to take her to jail even though she hadn't committed a crime, the Kitsap Sun reported. When the officer declined, she hit him in the nose with a soda bottle and was later booked for felony assault, the newspaper added.

Also last month, police say a 30-year-old homeless man broke windows in a county office building in Troy, N.Y., with the hope to get a year in jail, timesunion.com reported.

Mark Hayward / Union Leader

Candace Neal told Manchester, N.H., police she used her walker to fend off an armed man who burst into her apartment.

A 50-year-old New Hampshire woman who once worked as a deputy sheriff and a corrections officer hit a robber with her walker when he broke into her home on Sunday, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported.

Candace Neal told the Union Leader she needs the walker to get around because she became disabled about a year ago due to back problems. About two weeks ago, she said she also had surgery for a diabetes-related infection in her right foot.

A masked intruder armed with a knife burst into Neal's home Sunday afternoon, charging at her and a friend who was visiting, she said.

"I mean, I just looked up, and here was this guy running at us," Neal told WMUR.com in New Hampshire.

"My girlfriend tried to get in the middle of him and I and he punched her and threw her away, you know? Then I fell back on the bed and held my walker up and then I started hitting him with it, particularly trying to hit the knife," she added.

The robber got away with Neal's purse, which she thought she had managed to kick under the bed and hide, the Union Leader reported. The bag contained Neal's ID, $200 in cash and a month's worth of Oxycodone, methadone, muscle relaxants and the anti-stress medication. The powerful painkillers had been prescribed to Neal following her foot surgery.

"I'm quite sure that that's what they were after, was my prescriptions," she told WMUR.

Police are searching for the suspect, who is described as a white male in his 30s, about 6 feet tall with an athletic build. He was last seen wearing tan pants and a navy blue zip-up hoodie sweatshirt. A blue bandanna was covering his face during the break-in.

“I was almost helpless. If I didn't have the walker, I'd have nothing,” she told the Union Leader. “I was just trying to defend myself and my stuff.”

Neal, who told the Union Leader she has worked a variety of jobs, including deli worker, deputy sheriff and a corrections officer, said she would be moving out.

"This neighborhood is declining," she told WMUR.

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An elderly woman in California teamed up with a Good Samaritan Monday to track down and nab her alleged mugger.

The 90-year-old woman stopped at an Oakland, Calif., gas station to ask for directions when a man outside the store attacked her on her way in.

“I just thought it was the most horrible crime,” witness Robb Revelli told NBC Bay Area.

Store surveillance cameras captured the attack and showed the man tackling and robbing the five-foot-tall, 88-pound woman before fleeing the scene on foot.

Revelli, who had gone into the store to buy a drink, helped the unnamed victim collect her credit cards after he noticed the attack outside and then stepped into action.

“I asked her if she wanted to go to the hospital or chase this guy, and she wanted to chase him, so if she was down, I was down to go get him. And we did.”

The two jumped into woman’s car and caught up to the man. Revelli got out and grabbed him as the woman called 911 from the car.

“[I] started jumping fences after him and caught him and got him in a headlock and held him there for the police,” Revelli said. “[The woman] was my partner; she was really into the chase with me. She was not scared at all.”

When police arrived, they arrested the suspect, who is currently behind bars facing robbery charges.

“What I really appreciate is the citizen coming to the aid of the 90-year-old lady for her safety,” Doug Keely of the Oakland Police Department told NBC Bay Area. “We are concerned when you’re chasing suspects into backyards and things like that. We really want you to be safe.”

“It’s not a great neighborhood, but if people just chipped in a little bit, it’d be so much easier to catch all the violence in my neighborhood right now,” Revelli said.

The victim is at home in California’s Central Valley with a severely bruised hip, but she said she’s incredibly grateful Revelli was there to help.

“He’s an excellent, wonderful fellow,” she told NBC Bay Area. “I hope God protects him and blesses him for the rest of his life.”

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