It’s official: eating lightbulbs doesn’t pay.
The man recordsetter.com says holds a world’s record for gobbling down a lightbulb in under 34 seconds was arrested for trying to accomplish another manic milestone — robbing three banks within 30 minutes, police said on Thursday.
Investigators say suspected bank robber Robert Williams held up seven banks within four boroughs, including the three he allegedly knocked over on Kings Highway during a half-hour spree on June 1.
But his downfall came after he had a not-so-bright idea to hold up a Kings Highway bank he had already robbed, cops said.
Williams allegedly passed a threatening note to a teller at an Apple Bank between avenues J and K during his 30 minute raid on Kings Highway’s financial institutions and ran off with an undisclosed amount of cash. He then decided to tempt fate by waltzing back into the Apple Bank on Wednesday in a second robbery attempt — but was immediately recognized by bank employees, police said.
The alleged thief ditched his plans and ran off down Kings Highway, but cops nabbed him a short time later at E. Ninth Street and Avenue P during a grid search, cops said.
Detectives charged Williams with committing multiple bank robberies. He hadn’t been arraigned by late Thursday and attempts to reach his lawyer were unsuccessful.
There were several rules Williams had to follow when he set the record for being the fastest lightbulb eater alive last December: he had to eat everything except the metal part and could only grind the glass up with his teeth. He was allowed to wash the bulb down with water, however.
A disclaimer on the site called the record attempt dangerous and warned that it should only be attempted by “trained professionals.”
Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4514.
