OXNARD : Robber Sentenced to 4 Years, 7 Months
An Oxnard man who authorities believe committed as many as 10 bank robberies and pleaded guilty to two of the holdups was sentenced to four years, seven months in prison and three years probation, the FBI reported Monday.
Jose Luis Villareal, 20, was arrested Oct. 11 by Oxnard police after he allegedly robbed a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Oxnard and was chased on foot for several blocks by bank employees. Pursuers said Villareal became frightened when a package of red dye exploded in the bag of cash handed over by a bank teller.
FBI agents said Villareal may have committed as many as 10 bank robberies in less than a month. After an investigation by the FBI, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and Ventura, Oxnard and Port Hueneme police, Villareal was indicted for seven Ventura County holdups from Sept. 19 to Oct. 11.
Among other places, the holdups took place in the Imperial Savings branch on Ventura Road in Port Hueneme, the Bank of A. Levy on Harbor Boulevard in Ventura, and a branch of Santa Barbara Savings and Loan Assn. on Esplanade Drive in Oxnard.
On Jan. 9, he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to the Oct. 5 robberies of a 1st Nationwide Bank branch and a Valley Federal Savings & Loan Assn. branch, both in Thousand Oaks. The other charges were dropped.
U.S. District Court Judge John G. Davies sentenced Villareal last week in Los Angeles.
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