MIT Professor Robs a Bank and Says It’s an Art Project

61-year-old Joseph Gibbons is a former professor of visual arts at MIT, who now says he's a filmmaker and artist. On New Year's Eve, he went into a bank in Manhattan carrying a camcorder, handed the teller a note, and robbed the place.

He also robbed a bank in Rhode Island in November and got about $4,000 total from the two robberies. The police finally tracked him down on Friday and arrested him.

Only he says they weren't robberies, they were art projects.

Joseph says his art is all based on doing illegal things. Before he started robbing banks for art, he also got himself addicted to drugs for art and did some voyeurism for art.

If it all sounds suspicious, like he's using this "art" excuse to cover for his drug habit, secretly filming people, and now robbing banks that's totally fair.

Because a judge didn't buy his excuse either, and set his bail at $50,000.