West Hills Man Admits Robbing 9 Banks of $1 Million

One of two men suspected of a yearlong bank robbery spree--allegedly committed to battle a bizarre conspiracy involving fudge and the end of the world--admitted in federal court Thursday that he robbed nine banks of nearly $1 million.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Kendra McNally said James Ambrose McGrath, 48, admitted committing the crimes, despite a warning from U.S. Magistrate Charles Eick that any statement he made could be used against him.

“I don’t recall his exact words, but he said he had committed all the bank robberies,” McNally said. “It’s officially in the court records now.”

Phillip I. Bronson, McGrath’s court-appointed attorney, declined to discuss the hearing.

“I’m not going to comment one way or the other,” Bronson said.

McGrath and Gilbert David Michaels, 47, were denied bail during the hearing and are being held in the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles. The men have yet to enter pleas on a single count of bank robbery. A federal grand jury is expected to issue indictments on eight other counts of robbery prior to the March 30 arraignment.

McGrath’s admission was not a total surprise. Since the two men were arrested March 6--less than 15 minutes after they allegedly walked out of a Home Savings of America branch in Woodland Hills with $150,000--they and their families have been telling the news media they committed the robberies so that they could have a public platform to tell their bizarre story.

At a news conference Tuesday at Michaels’ West Hills home, his wife, Rose Ann, said her husband’s $1-million inheritance had been stolen from him in a great conspiracy involving banks and the Hershey Corp. She said the banks and chocolate maker tried to prevent Michaels from competing against them with an old family recipe for fudge, Rose Ann’s Old Style Fudge.

She said the men were merely taking back their money from the banks. The men targeted Home Savings, Wells Fargo and First Interstate banks because they believed that is where the inheritance money is deposited. One of the holdups is believed to be the largest bank robbery in Los Angeles history, $430,000 taken Sept. 5 from a Wells Fargo branch in Tarzana.

Michaels’ wife also said some of the stolen money was used to stockpile an arsenal in a concrete bunker at Michaels’ house in preparation for Armageddon--the biblical last battle between the forces of good and evil.