San Diego

The bank robber known as the “Speed Queen” bandit, who held up three banks in three cities in one afternoon, was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison.

Rita Louise Bennett, 36, was also ordered to repay the three banks that were held up on June 5.

She pleaded guilty Nov. 12 to conspiring with a co-defendant to rob two Wells Fargo banks in Del Mar and Poway and a HomeFed Bank in Kearny Mesa.

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff ordered Bennett to repay $413 to the Del Mar bank, $701 to the Poway branch and $307 to the third bank.

Co-defendant Raymond Allweil, 26, of Mira Mesa, was convicted by a jury last month of robbing the same banks and is scheduled for sentencing Feb. 10. The prosecution alleged that Allweil wrote the demand notes in all three holdups.

Bennett had been dubbed the “Speed Queen” by the FBI because she seemed to be in a hurry.

One note Bennett presented to a teller read: “You have only two seconds to give me your money! Three seconds, and I’ll blow your head off!”

Bennett was arrested in late June and confessed to holding up the banks. Bennett was also charged with holding up two other banks in San Diego, but those counts were later dropped. She has no prior record.