Local News in Brief : ‘Marx Bandit’ Sentenced

One of the “Marx Brothers Bandits,” linked by authorities to 11 bank robberies in Southern California and Nevada, was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison by a federal judge in Los Angeles.

Lawrence Edward Lockridge, 57, who pleaded guilty in October to two of the robberies, received two years more in prison than his brother, Roger, 53, who was sentenced in June.

Authorities dubbed the pair the “Marx Brothers Bandits” for their frequent use of topcoats, curly wigs, false mustaches and eyeglasses during a July, 1984, to December, 1986, robbery spree.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Thomas Hagemann said Lawrence Lockridge received a longer sentence because he alone was responsible for a March 11 robbery in Las Vegas of the Nevada Savings & Loan in which the bank manager was forced at gunpoint to drive a getaway car.

U.S. District Judge Ferdinand Fernandez turned down Lockridge’s request for leniency, calling him “a menace to society” who has used his substantial intelligence “for purposes of waste and evil.”