Commando Who Faked Death Convicted of Robbery, Escape

An Air Force parachute commando who faked his death and lived a double life for five years was convicted Wednesday of robbery, escape and other charges in his second court-martial.

James Douglas Pou was serving an 11-month sentence for desertion and bigamy when he escaped last June from the stockade at March Air Force Base, about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

He turned himself in two weeks later, saying he spent the time camping out in the mountains.

Pou, 34, faces a total of 16 1/2 years in prison after being convicted on five of six counts stemming from the escape and his five-year double life, including the 1988 robbery of a bank in Corpus Cristi, Tex.

The eight military officers on the jury convicted Pou of the most serious charges of robbery and escape from confinement, according to base spokesman Jerry Sonnenberg.

Pou, originally from Garrettsville, Ohio, was a para-rescue trainer at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico until 1987. He has admitted staging his death in May of that year, making it appear that he was swept down the Rio Grande River near Albuquerque after a bicycle accident.

Leaving his wife and two children, Pou went to San Diego, where he took the name Christopher K. Riggs, married again and had two children.

Prosecutors said that in August, 1988, he took time off from his real estate job and traveled to Texas where he dressed in Ninja warrior garb and robbed the Costal Bend National Bank in Corpus Cristi.

His second wife, Monica Riggs, reported him to authorities after learning of his previous life and hearing that a neighbor was pregnant with his child.