Man Gets 12-Year Term in String of Bank Heists
A 12-year prison sentence was given Monday to the first of two Huntington Beach men who committed a series of bank robberies that included three last December in Orange County.
Edward Anthony Serrano, who pleaded guilty to three of the robberies, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John G. Davies.
Serrano and partner Dennis G. McCrudden, both 37, robbed nine financial institutions of more than $10,400 in hold-ups between December and February, according to prosecutors. McCrudden is scheduled to be sentenced today.
Serrano and McCrudden teamed up to rob the Bank of America in Orange on Dec. 8, the Universal Savings Bank in Huntington Beach two days later, and Downey Savings & Loan, also in Huntington Beach, on Dec. 23. The three robberies netted $2,610, according to authorities.
In addition, Serrano was charged with the Dec. 2 robbery of a branch of Security Pacific National Bank in Seal Beach, and robberies at a Wells, Fargo Bank in Pasadena and Mercury Savings & Loan in West Covina in January, and Mercury Savings and Loan in Tustin in February. He was also accused of robbing two Los Angeles-area institutions.
In each theft, one of the men entered the financial institution, handed the teller a note demanding money and pretended to be armed with a weapon, prosecutors said.
The men were arrested after a Tustin bank employee copied down the license plate number of the getaway car.
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