$5,000 Was Up for Grabs : Bandit Who Cast Stolen Cash on Freeway Receives 30 Years

An armed robber who tossed cash out of the windows of his getaway car while fleeing from police along the Costa Mesa Freeway last year was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on Wednesday.

David Cota, 21, of Pico Rivera, previously pleaded guilty to carrying a loaded, sawed-off shotgun into Glendale Federal Savings and Loan Assn.’s Harbor Boulevard office in Costa Mesa on Oct. 19.

Motorists Surprised

He ordered the tellers to empty their cash drawers and ran out with about $8,400. With several police cars in pursuit, Cota fled on the highway. He tossed about $5,000 cash out the windows, to the astonishment of motorists.

Even when he pleaded guilty last month, Cota maintained that he had no memory of the robbery because he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. A second man charged in the incident was acquitted.

“The only thing I’m certain of is that you are a clear danger to society,” said U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson. Wilson said choosing a prison term for Cota was “a very, very difficult task” because it was the first sentencing he had imposed since becoming a federal judge late last year.

Earlier Charges

“I’d be inclined to take a gamble if not for your past,” said Wilson, referring to the December, 1982, manslaughter charges filed against Cota by San Bernardino County authorities.

“When you were 18 years old you murdered a man, and one month out of jail you committed a series of bank robberies,” Wilson said.

Cota served 2 1/2 years in prison for the strangulation death of a man who picked him up while he was hitchhiking near Crestline in the San Bernardino Mountains, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Jeffrey Modisett.