The True Story of Netflix's “How to Rob a Bank”: How Scott Scurlock Pulled Off 17 Robberies in the '90s

Scott Scurlock evaded police by wearing elaborate makeup, costumes and facial prosthetics inspired by movies like 'Point Break'

The Netflix documentary How to Rob a Bank, directed by Seth Porges (Class Action Park) and Stephen Robert Morse (Amanda Knox), follows the rise and fall of one of the most prolific bank robbers in United States history: Scott Scurlock.

According to a 2018 report from the Washington Secretary of State, the Virginia-born thief successfully robbed $2.3 million from 17 banks in the Seattle area during the early 1990s.

He was inspired by blockbuster movies such as Point Break and even had one of his accomplices wear a Ronald Reagan mask similar to the one Patrick Swayze's character sports in the film. Scurlock's flashy disguises earned him the nickname "Hollywood."

Outside of his bank heists, he led a mostly quiet life. The Seattle Times reported in 1996 that he lived in a three-story treehouse outside Olympia, Wash., and spent most of his stolen fortune on travel. Scurlock even displayed some Robin Hood-like tendencies with his wealth, leaving behind big tips for wait staff and donating large sums of money to environmental causes and rape crisis centers.

According to the 2010 Disorientation Manual for Evergreen State College, where he once studied biochemistry, he mostly robbed banks in affluent neighborhoods.

After years of successfully evading police, he was caught on Thanksgiving Eve in 1996 following his biggest robbery to date. While Scurlock and his two accomplices, Steve Meyers and Mark Biggins, escaped the bank, holiday traffic slowed their getaway, and officers caught up with them in a car chase.

Scurlock slipped away during the police pursuit and was found the next day hiding out in a decommissioned camper. Surrounded and with nowhere to run, he fatally shot himself.

So, who is Scott Scurlock? Here's everything to know about the notorious criminal and the true story of How to Rob a Bank.

Who was Scott Scurlock?

William Scott Scurlock was a notorious bank robber in the early 1990s who police called "Hollywood." According to Ann Rule's 1999 book The End of the Dream, he grew up in Reston, Va., where his father was a youth pastor and his mother was an elementary school teacher.

Before launching his bank robbery spree, Scurlock was a drug dealer. He grew and sold marijuana while working on a tomato farm in Hawaii and used his college chemistry lab to cook methamphetamines in Olympia. It wasn't until his primary distributor was murdered in 1990 that Scurlock stopped dealing drugs and turned to robbing banks.

He pulled off his first theft in 1992 with Biggins' help. While they got away, Biggins didn't love the rush of stealing as much as his partner in crime. So Scurlock went solo before eventually recruiting other friends, including Meyers, to join in on the heists. He stole over $320,000 in his first year and got away with robbing banks for four years before getting caught in 1996.

Many reports and interviews describe Scurlock as handsome and intelligent. His lawyer, Shawn Newman, told The Seattle Times in 1996 that he resembled Mel Gibson.

"He wasn't a rough-type personality,” Newman said. “He was very well-mannered. He was an interesting guy. If you were to see him on the street, even if he hadn't shaved for a couple of days, he still looked good. He was very physically fit."

Where did Scott Scurlock live?

Using the money he made selling methamphetamines, Scurlock bought 20 acres of land outside of Olympia. He and a group of friends constructed a three-story, 1,500-square-foot treehouse with plumbing, electricity, a wraparound deck, 30 windows, a fireplace, rope swings and descent poles.

Though it took them several months to build, Scurlock claimed that they built it by taking methamphetamines and staying up all day and night. Friends described it to the Disorientation Manual as "this magical world, where it was fun and happy and that can get addictive."

After he died by suicide, FBI agents searched the treehouse as well as the home and barn on his land. Per The Seattle Times, they found weapons, a fake beard, seven pairs of Converse shoes, a photo of Buffalo Bill and around $20,000 in cash.

The Spokesman-Review reported in 1997 that Scurlock's parents had listed the property for sale to pay off the debts of his estate — at the time, it was valued at $106,000. Though they expressed their wishes to keep it intact, the treehouse is no longer standing.

Did Scott Scurlock have accomplices?

While Scurlock mostly robbed banks alone, he enlisted his friends to help evade police — but only two were ever caught and convicted. Meyers laundered stolen money through casinos in Las Vegas and participated in multiple robberies with Scurlock, including his last. After being spooked by the first robbery, Biggins returned to help during the final year of the spree.

Meyers grew up with Scurlock and helped him construct his treehouse. Biggins, another longtime friend of his, also worked on the property.

According to The Seattle Times, on Nov. 27, 1996, the trio robbed a Seafirst Bank of more than $1 million, Scurlock's biggest robbery to date. They almost got away with it, except onlookers noticed suspicious flashlight activity coming from a white van stuck in holiday traffic. A car chase and shootout ensued, ending with Scurlock driving the vehicle into the front of a house. He fled the scene, and Meyers and Biggins were found with non-fatal gunshot wounds.

The two men were each sentenced to 21 years in federal prison. Meyers was released in 2013, and Biggins was released in 2015. Both appear in the documentary How to Rob a Bank.

What happened to Scott Scurlock?

When police apprehended Biggins and Meyers, Scurlock was nowhere to be found. So officers spent the entire night searching properties to find him — including that of 85-year-old Wilma Walker. But for reasons unknown, they did not check her decommissioned camper. Knowing that police had been looking for a suspect on the loose, Walker asked her sons to check it the following day before they sat down for Thanksgiving dinner.

"When we got out there, we found the back door locked," Bob Walker told The Seattle Times in 1996. "So I picked up a piece of wood and started banging away at the door, trying to open it. I didn't think anybody would be in there, let alone him."

The two men spotted someone inside and immediately called 911. When police approached the camper, a shot was fired from inside it, and police returned fire. Scurlock was found dead inside, and police later determined that his only shot fired was self-inflicted.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

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