Published Feb 11, 2010
Published Thursday February 11, 2010
Bank robber turns life around


By Roger Buddenberg
World-Herald Staff Writer

Shon Hopwood's life has been as bewildering as a blizzard for the past 13 years.

He robbed five Nebraska banks, spent a decade behind bars, stumbled upon a rare talent for legal writing, got out of federal prison, landed a job in Omaha, married the girl he had a secret crush on in high school, saw his son born on Christmas Day and now — over four crazy days this week — has fielded calls from around the world about his life story.

Sounds like a movie?

Well, filmmakers have been calling too, and book deals are on the table. He's scheduled to give a speech to Harvard law students next month. And his 7-week-old son just smiled at him for the first time.

“I love my new life. I'm grateful every day,” Hopwood, 34, said Wednesday from his downtown office. He's talking about his life even before fame burst upon him this week, when a New York Times account of his strange tale circulated around the Internet, headlined: “A Mediocre Criminal, but an Unmatched Jailhouse Lawyer.”

It all started when — in the movie, if one is made, this is where the screen will go all wavy...

Read more at omaha.com.



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