Martin Schiedermayer (Outagamie Co. Jail)
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Martin Schiedermayer was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for robbing an Appleton bank in January. It’s the same bank he robbed in 2011, and both times he told police it was his best option due to his financial situation.
He was also placed on extended supervision for seven years by Judge Mark Schroeder.
Before the sentence was issued, Schiedermayer apologized.
“I’m sorry I had to involve other people, and that I didn’t seek help or advice to do something more proper. When you lose your income, I just thought everything was going down the drain. All I could think of was rather than stand up and look foolish or be embarrassed that, instead of living under a bridge and being on the street, I thought if I could just go away for a little while, pay my debt to society, I would then be able to retire and live quietly, and you would never hear from me again,” Schiedermayer said.
Judge Schroeder called what Schiedermayer did a “false choice,” and said he had other options, noting homelessness is not a character flaw. While losing a job is awful, terrorizing the bank employees is not the choice most anyone else would or should make, he said.
Schiedermayer, 63, robbed the Wells Fargo bank, 118 S. State Street — just a block west of the Appleton Police Department headquarters, on Jan. 14, 2025.
According to the criminal complaint, Schiedermayer entered the bank, went to an island counter, then went to a teller and presented a note reading “This is a robbery. $2000 in cash, count it fast.”
No weapon was shown, and no threat of one was made. The clerk countered out $2,000. Schiedermayer took that and the note he wrote, then left.
Employees triggered the silent alarm and called 911. Based the description of him and his vehicle, where he waited across the street to be arrested, police arrested him within 20 minutes.
“Sgt. Rosetti asked Martin why he was here today, and Martin responded that he thought he had to take desperate measures. Martin said he lost his job because he took to many sick days and he felt like a rock was now on his chest. Martin thought he could get unemployment but had this fear of being homeless living under a bridge. Martin said he asked himself what was the easiest way to go back to jail because he didn’t want to rob a Kwik Trip because someone might pull out a club. He continued they say at a bank they will just give it to you, and he can punch his one way ticket back,” the complaint states. “Martin said he felt like he would rather be in jail than be homeless. He said when you lose everything that jail isn’t the worst thing.”
In 2011, Schiedermayer was convicted of robbery and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for a May 5 robbery at the same bank.
According to the criminal complaint, in that case Schiedermayer handed a note to a teller which stated, “Be cool this is a robbery. Count out 1500. Don’t take bait money or trigger money.” The clerk counted out that amount, and he walked out of the bank.
He was caught after offering to take a female friend to a hotel but she knew he was unemployed.
““What did you do rob a bank?” As she asked him that he became very flustered and said “How did you know?” She stated that she then talked to Schiedermayer for a little while and he again admitted that he had robbed a bank, that it was very easy to do, and that he was surprised that he had not been caught. She advised that later in the conversation, he stated that he was only kidding but that she was very concerned about the comments that he had made, so she decided to call the police,” the complaint states.
Schiedermayer told police he was unemployed and needed the money for rent and utilities, his last option would be going to jail, and that way “something good might come out that.”
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