El Cajon

A convicted robber known as the “Plaid Shirt Bandit” was sentenced Monday to 15 years in state prison.

Leo Michael Giddings, 42, a transient who robbed 14 businesses, most of them in East County, was also ordered to pay $4,843.16 restitution for the holdups, which occurred between May 14 and Sept. 24. Police gave him the “Plaid Shirt Bandit” nickname because he often wore plaid shirts during the robberies.

Five of the businesses were Kragen’s Auto Parts stores, and the firm’s investigator, Jack Suttie, told San Diego Municipal Judge Gale Kaneshiro how one employee, 22-year-old woman who was seven months pregnant, was robbed at gunpoint in the Johnson Avenue store in El Cajon. Giddings pointed the gun “at her womb,” said Suttie, which caused her “severe emotional trauma.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Wesley Schermann urged the maximum 20-year term. He said victims did not know that Giddings used a fake gun in many of the robberies.

Giddings was arrested Sept. 24 after a holdup at a Kragen’s store at 158 N. 2nd St. in El Cajon. He was wearing a red plaid shirt.