Ex-CHP Officer Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison for Robbery

A former California Highway Patrol officer from Canyon Country was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for robbing a Pacoima grocery store of $93,000 and attempting to rob two other markets.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Robert D. Fratianne imposed the sentence on William Francis Wilson Jr., 43, for one count each of robbery, attempted robbery and attempted grand theft.

Wilson pleaded no contest Nov. 30 to the robbery of Tresierras Market in Pacoima on April 10, 1987, and to the attempted robbery of La Placita Market on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Pacoima on the same day. He also pleaded no contest to attempted grand theft for trying to take money from Carlton’s Market on Ramona Boulevard in El Monte on June 22. Authorities said he took $93,000 in the Tresierras Market robbery.

Wilson on Tuesday asked that he be allowed to withdraw his no contest plea, but the judge denied his motion.

Wilson presented himself as an FBI agent during the incidents, authorities said. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced Dec. 15 in U.S. District Court to five years in federal prison for impersonating an FBI agent.

Wilson will serve the state and federal sentences concurrently, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Pamela Davis-Springer. When he completes the five-year federal term, he will serve one year in state prison, she said.

Wilson worked for the CHP in Newhall and West Los Angeles for 13 years. After he resigned, he operated a private investigation business.