Man who likes using fake guns in holdups admits he held up a Hyde Park bank with a fake rifle

The US Attorney's office reports Paul Whooten, 59, of Hyde Park, pleaded guilty Thursday to holding up a Rockland Trust branch on Truman Parkway with what looked like a rifle in 2019.

Whooten, who made off with $13,603 in cash after pointing what turned out to be a BB gun at a teller, didn't get far because there was a BPD detail cop right outside the bank. He was arrested down Truman Parkway. An accomplice, who jumped in a car, was nabbed in Milton.

Whooten formally pleaded guilty to one count of armed bank robbery; he will be sentenced on April 12. The US Attorney's office says he faces up to 25 years in prison.

In 2000, Whooten was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to five counts related to the way he and an accomplice used what turned out to be a toy gun to rob a Bread and Circus store in Wayland of $10,000 the year before.

In 2011, he and an accomplice were charged with holding up a UPS store on Massachusetts Avenue in the Fenway, using a replica gun Whooten had crafted out of a nozzle and black duct tape.