GLENDALE : Woman Sentenced in Bank Robberies

A former Jet Propulsion Laboratory worker was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles federal court to three years and four months in prison for the July robberies of banks in Glendale and Monrovia.

Deborah Boese, 29, also dubbed by the FBI as “Large Marge,” apologized for her actions before she was sentenced by U. S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima.

“What I’ve done is totally wrong,” Boese said as her parents and fiance watched in court. “I didn’t mean to hurt anybody.”

The tall, red-haired woman earned her nickname from descriptions that bank tellers had provided to investigators. She usually covered herself with heavy makeup, sunglasses, a long-sleeved shirt and a cap--making some tellers uncertain about her gender, Glendale police had said.

Boese was indicted by a federal grand jury on three counts of bank robbery after her July 22 arrest by Glendale police. She admitted to taking more than $10,000 from two Glendale banks and four others in the San Gabriel Valley between June 26 and July 22.

She also told Glendale investigators that she was driven to robbery because she was fired as a clerk from JPL, police said. The woman did not explain her actions Monday, and her attorney, Dwight Moore, declined comment.

On Sept. 9, prosecutors agreed to drop one robbery count after the Glendale woman pleaded guilty to two charges stemming from the July 8 Sanwa Bank robbery in Glendale and a July 22 First Interstate Bank heist in Monrovia.

Boese could have been sentenced to up to four years and three months in federal prison. But Tashima acknowledged defense claims that her actions showed “bizarre behavior” and appeared out of character and agreed to the lesser term of three years and four months.

Tashima also ordered her to pay back Sanwa Bank $1,940 and First Interstate Bank $63.