Pascal Vanthier is a “grandpa” robber.
Former civil servant at the Robert-Ballanger hospital in Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis), sportsman and cook, his atypical career was examined on Tuesday by the Paris Assize Court, which since Monday judges the band of the "baby robber »Gaël Nivelais for an attack on a freight truck in Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis) in March 2018.
Solid shoulders and short hair, Pascal Vanthier is now 58 years old.
Before becoming a recidivist robber, little Pascal spent his early years in Dakar, Senegal where his father worked.
In 1965, his parents moved to a pavilion in Villeparisis (Seine-et-Marne).
At school, he is good at science subjects, and gets an electro-technical baccalaureate.
He did two years of higher education in the same direction, but dropped out before obtaining his diploma.
Passionate about rugby and Harley Davidson
The young man plays rugby, he is one of the pillars of the local team.
Pascal loves rock, Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry.
He's crazy about big bikes, loves Harley Davidsons and will buy one as soon as he can.
At the age of 17, he fell in love with Svetlana, a young woman of Yugoslav origin.
“This young drug addict transmitted the AIDS virus to him,” says the personality investigator.
In adulthood, the young man stops playing at fifteen and embarks on boxing to refine his silhouette.
He works as a fire safety officer in the same hospital as his mother.
At the age of 22, he meets Isabelle, the one who will mean the most to him, and settles with her in Villeparisis.
In 1990, the couple saw the birth of their daughter Kelly, now 31 years old.
In 1997, Pascal discovered that he was HIV positive and was undergoing treatment.
This dramatic news created tensions in her relationship, which broke up in 2004.
In prison, he learns cooking
In 1999, after nineteen years spent honestly working at the hospital, Pascal Vanthier became a robber.
“A stupidity, the attraction of money,” he explained to the court.
Pascal attacks two tobacco bars, the Saint-Claude in Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine) and the Blainville in the 5th arrondissement of Paris.
He was arrested in November 1999 following an anonymous information.
In May 2002, the hospital worker was sentenced to eight years in prison by the Seine-et-Marne Assize Court.
Pascal regained his freedom in September 2003 but, a few months later, he fell back: "When I left prison, I could no longer work in fire safety so I chose the easy solution, it was the banks".
Vanthier attacks the Caisses d'Epargne in Champagne-sur-Seine (Seine-et-Marne), Essarts-le-Roi (Yvelines), Acquigny (Eure) and Dignac (Charentes).
After new anonymous information ... he was arrested in April 2004 and sentenced to thirteen years of criminal imprisonment before the jurors of Côte-d'Or.
He spent more than ten years behind bars.
This time, Vanthier is learning to cook.
And at the central house in Poissy (Yvelines), he passed a BEP then a professional BAC in cooking and even a pastry diploma.
He cooks meals for the prison executives' mess.
There he received lessons from several starred chefs.
"I even wrote a book with Thierry Marx", assures the robber passionate about the stove.
He was released from prison in 2017 and moved back to an apartment in Villeparisis.
"When we get out of prison we are always worse"
While living from the RSA, Pascal receives a visit from Gaël Nivelais, the “baby robber”, whom he knew at the Villepinte remand center.
The two men will run together, talk a lot, and team up for another shot.
On March 8, 2018, he was part of the Nivelais team which steers a computer truck leaving the Garonor freight zone, in Aulnay.
“I do not have too many excuses, ensures Pascal Vanthier in court.
But when we get out of prison we are always worse… ”
Since his incarceration at the Bois-d'Arcy penitentiary (Yvelines), the robber regrets not being able to cook.
He reads strategy books, "The Prince" by Machiavelli or "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.
“It's to open my mind,” he explains.
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Pascal Vanthier was appearing in the company of nine other defendants until the time of the verdict, which must fall on Friday, February 26.
He has already spent eighteen years in prison.
