Pomona Man Guilty in Botched Robbery
A federal jury found a Pomona man guilty of attempted bank robbery and kidnaping Friday for holding a bank manager and her husband in their Palmdale home for 36 hours, then trying unsuccessfully to rob the bank.
Tyrone McCraw, 29, also was convicted of using a firearm during the February crime and faces from 15 years to life in prison as a result of the verdict in U.S. District Court, said Assistant U.S. Atty. David Tennant. McCraw will be sentenced Oct. 1.
McCraw’s accomplice, 29-year-old Brian Simms, pleaded guilty to the same charges and testified against McCraw. Simms will be sentenced on Aug. 27; he faces 12 years in prison as the result of a plea-bargain agreement, Tennant said.
The two men, described by Tennant as “inept and not very bright” would-be robbers, hatched the plot to kidnap the Newhall savings branch manager after working as carpet layers at the branch office. After holding the couple at gunpoint in the Palmdale house for more than a day, they left the husband bound and gagged and took the manager to the branch office, where she set off a silent alarm that summoned authorities.
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