Bernard Pagano

Bernard Pagano was an American Roman Catholic priest and school teacher who became nationally known in 1979 when he was falsely accused in a string of armed robberies, known as the "Gentleman Bandit" case, in which an otherwise polite man held store clerks at gunpoint, demanding money. He was cleared of the charges when the real culprit Ronald W. Clouser turned himself in. Pagano's story was dramatized in the 1981 film "The Gentleman Bandit", directed by Jonathan Kaplan, in which Pagano served as technical advisor. Pagano also served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.