The Dateline episode ‘A Villainous Plan’ investigates the bizarre fake bomb bank robbery in New Britain, Connecticut in 2015. Using the Internet and social media, two criminals had researched and tracked the comings and goings of bank executive Matthew Yussman. On the night of February 23, 2015, while he pulled into his driveway, Yussman was ambushed by two armed men. They invaded his home, took him and his 70-year-old mother, Valerie Yussman, hostage and ordered him to rob the bank where he worked. They strapped a bomb to his waist and told him if he didn’t do as they say, they’d blow him up. It turned out that the realistic-looking bomb was fake and the robbery was a bust: the criminals fled with nothing.
In March 2016, Brian Witham pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 42 years in prison. In July 2017, Michael Benanti was served four consecutive life sentences. According to the FBI, Benanti and Witham committed similar crimes (taking bank employees and their families hostage and extorting them for money) in Tennessee.
According to WATE News, Witham and Benanti met in federal prison in the late 1990s. When Witham was released from prison, he worked for Benanti’s business, Prisoner Assistant. The company touted itself as a prisoner banking and rehabilitation program, helping prisoners prepare for release by establishing and managing bank accounts and improving credit scores, among other services. For $5 a month, Prisoner Assistant would manage a prisoner’s bank account. “For $24-$50 a month it would help an inmate pay bills, make wire transfers, get credit cards and lines of credit.” According to court documents, Benanti and Witham used money from Prisoner Assistant to rent a cabin in North Carolina, where they plotted their bank robberies. Dateline airs Fridays at 9 pm on NBC.
Prisoner Assistant’s 2013 promotional video:
Matt Yussman lives to tell his story on Dateline:
