VENTURA : Man Gets 8 Years in 3 Bank Robberies

A Ventura man has been sentenced on federal bank robbery charges for three robberies last summer.

Robert Poynter, 31, pleaded guilty to three of the seven robberies for which he was charged. The robberies were committed in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, some only one day apart.

Poynter was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge James M. Ideman to eight years in prison, to be followed by a three-year supervised release program.

An investigation by the FBI and Ventura police led the agencies to begin a surveillance of Poynter on Aug. 18, 1990. Four days later, Poynter robbed Santa Barbara Savings on Telegraph Road in Ventura. Agents were waiting to arrest him as he left the building.

Julian Delgado of El Rio, who was waiting in the getaway car, was also arrested.

Both men pleaded guilty in the robbery. In addition, Poynter pleaded guilty to the July 26 robbery of the Security Pacific National Bank on Telephone Road in Ventura and the Aug. 1 robbery of World Savings Bank on Thompson Boulevard, also in Ventura.

The four other robberies he was charged with were: July 27 at Ventura County National Bank, North Las Posas Road, Camarillo; Aug. 10 at Santa Barbara Savings and Loan, Arneill Road, Camarillo; Aug. 13 at World Savings Bank, East Ponderosa Drive, Camarillo; and Aug. 14 at the Bank of America in Santa Maria.

Delgado was sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison followed by a three-year supervised release program. Although he pleaded guilty to only one robbery, Delgado’s sentence is longer than Poynter’s because of Delgado’s extensive criminal record, said Larry Dick of the Ventura office of the FBI.