A struggling financial advisor robbed a Mount Pleasant bank with a fake bomb. He was granted bond (2024)

A certified financial planner who admitted to robbing a Mount Pleasant bank with a fake bomb due to his family's financial struggles was granted bond after a year and a half in jail.

Scott Tunis, 45, had been housed in the Al Cannon Detention Center since law enforcement say he entered the Truist Bank on Highway 17 in Mount Pleasant in December 2022 and threatened tellers with what looked to be an improvised explosive device.

He left with more than $8,700, some of which he used to pay for his family’s rent in the following days, according to statements made during a May 30 bond hearing in front of Charleston County Circuit Judge Roger Young.

Tunis is charged with armed robbery and intimidation or threat with a hoax device. Another circuit judge previously granted him a $50,000 bond on the intimidation charge, but denied bail on the armed robbery charge.

His defense attorney, John Kozelski III, filed another motion for bond in November 2023.

Tunis— who told police officers that he robbed the bank, also told them where to find the remaining cash and confirmed the explosive device was fake— was originally scheduled for a plea May 30. Young allowed the attorneys to conduct a bond hearing instead.

Assistant Solicitor Timothy Finch argued that Tunis’ decision to rob a bank with a fake bomb was an “incredibly dangerous, impulsive decision.”

Tunis' defense attorney elaborated that Tunis’ family had been experiencing financial difficulties. He and his wife share five children together, Kozelski said.

“The money dried up,” Kozelski said in court.

Tunis was self-medicating with “excessive” alcohol use and was not thinking clearly in the days leading up to the armed robbery as his family could not afford to pay that month’s rent, according to a forensic evaluation by licensed clinical psychologist Lewis Randolph Waid.

His wife, who couldn’t attend the May 30 court date because of work, was “unaware” of the severity of their family’s financial situation, according to the evaluation.

His only prior record was a 2019 food stamp fraud charge from Pennsylvania, which Kozelski said in court was a result of Tunis forgetting to cancel his food stamps that went directly to his card.

The financial planner with a bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University and a master’s degree from Boston University has not received any writeups in jail and he regularly attends AA meetings and bible studies, according to Kozelski.

“He was desperate and did a desperate thing,” Kozelski said. “He wants to be able to show that he’s more than the worst thing he’s done.”

Young granted him a $200,000 consolidated surety bond.

Tunis will report directly to the Oxford House, a recovery house for drug and alcohol addiction, when he is released from jail. If he is released from the Oxford House, he is to be on strict house arrest with electronic ankle monitoring, according to Young.

Tunis nodded his head in agreement as the judge granted his request.