2 Sentenced for Bank Robberies
Two men have been sentenced to federal prison in connection with separate Ventura County bank robberies, the FBI announced.
Benjamin James Greenspoon, 21, of Santa Barbara received a seven-year sentence for the July 27, 1993, robbery of a Ventura County National Bank branch in Ventura.
Greenspoon was identified as a suspect in the robbery from a description of the getaway vehicle. On parole from a forgery conviction, he was arrested on Aug. 20 when he appeared at the state parole office in Santa Barbara for a routine visit, said FBI Special Agent Gary Auer.
During plea bargaining, Greenspoon confessed to the robbery of Santa Barbara Bank and Trust in Santa Barbara one week earlier, Auer said. The FBI believes he may have been involved in two other bank robberies in Santa Barbara as well, Auer said.
Greenspoon pleaded guilty to a single count of bank robbery Nov. 2 and was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
On Jan. 7, Mario Fernando Lopez, 27, of Ventura was sentenced to four years and 10 months in the same court for the May 7, 1993, robbery of a Bank of America branch on Telephone Road in Ventura.
An anonymous call led investigators to Lopez, while fingerprints on a demand note left at the bank confirmed his identification as the robber, Auer said.
He was indicted for the May 7 robbery and another robbery at the same bank on April 26. He pleaded guilty in September to a single count of bank robbery.
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