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Accused Fort Worth Bank Robber, Kidnapper Speaks From Jail

February 17, 2015 / 3:06 PM CST / CBS Texas

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FORT WORTH (CBS 11 NEWS) - As he sat in jail on a total bond of $500,000, 54-year-old Dee Ingram reflected on being taken into custody Saturday, two days after a Fort Worth bank robbery and five hours after allegedly kidnapping his ex-girlfriend from her home.

Ingram told CBS 11 News he'd been off his meds for weeks when he entered Fort Worth's Frost Bank last Thursday. "The voices just kept plaguing and tormenting my mind. I just didn't know how to control or stop what was being said to me," he said.

Ingram readily admits he had an unloaded pellet gun in his waistband and that bank employees saw it. But he waffled about taking responsibility for whether he used it to demand cash. "I asked for the money. I went into the bank and asked for the money and they gave it to me."

Ingram claims numerous medical issues; Stage-3 prostate cancer, and a form of schizophrenia where he should be on three medications, including Prozac. He said when he showed up in Barbara Hayes' bedroom Saturday morning he just wanted to talk to his one-time girlfriend. "I knew I was in trouble because of the bank. But I just wanted to talk to her and tell her how much I missed her and how much I loved her."

But police say Ingram displayed his gun there, too, and as Hayes told CBS 11 News on Monday, she was scared to death. "All I could think about was I need to get away from the grandchildren, I need to take him away from my home."

Fort Worth police tracked her movements for hours before she leaped from her car at a Valero gas station in nearby Forest Hill. Hayes doesn't want to react to Ingram's claims; she said she wants the court to straighten things out and to get her life back. Ingram, meantime, claimed he's sorry about how he took the bank's money. "There is no way I could try to say or justify anything else. I'm very regretful for that."