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Robert Farnsworth, Jr.

Other Michigan No Crime Cases
Shortly before 6 p.m. on March 11, 1999, 29-year-old Robert Farnsworth Jr., a manager of a Wendy’s Restaurant in Jackson, Michigan, left the restaurant with two bags of checks and cash to deposit in the night deposit box of a branch of Comerica Bank across the street.

The next day, the bank reported that only one bag was found in the night drop.  The missing bag contained $2,289 in cash. Farnsworth, who had worked for Wendy's for 10 years was confronted by management. He nsisted that he had dropped both bags in the night deposit box. He was fired. Ultimately, police questioned him and claimed that he confessed during a polygraph examination that he had stolen the missing bag. However, Farnsworth immediately recanted his confession and claimed that the police had badgered him into a confession. On May 26, 1999, he was charged with theft.

Farnsworth went to trial in July 1999 in Jackson County Circuit Court. Bank employees testified that it was impossible for a bag placed into the night deposit box to be lost. Farnsworth denied stealing the money and insisted he placed both bags into the night deposit box.

On July 26, 1999, a jury convicted him. He was sentenced to six months, but the sentence was suspended. He was given three years of probation, and he was required to repay the missing money.

Farnsworth and his wife, Linda, ultimately filed for bankruptcy due to loss of income and legal fees.

Six months later, a bag from a car wash business was missing from the night deposit box of the same bank. Michael George, the owner of the car wash, was friendly with Rick Davis, Comerica’s president. George asked for Davis's help help in finding the missing bag. When technicians opened the night drop in February 2000, they found three deposit bags that had become stuck in the vault – the one from Wendy’s, the one from the car wash, and a third, the absence of which had not been noticed.

On March 8, 2000, Farnsworth’s conviction was set aside by the same judge who had presided over his trial. The prosecution then dismissed the case.
 
- Maurice Possley

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Posting Date:  Before June 2012
Last Updated: 10/15/2024
State:Michigan
County:Jackson
Most Serious Crime:Theft
Additional Convictions:
Reported Crime Date:1999
Convicted:1999
Exonerated:2000
Sentence:Probation
Race/Ethnicity:White
Sex:Male
Age at the date of reported crime:29
Contributing Factors:False Confession
Did DNA evidence contribute to the exoneration?:No