Ex-Cheerleader Pleads Guilty in Fullerton Bank Robbery

A former high school cheerleader pleaded guilty Thursday to robbing a Fullerton bank of $15,000 when she was seven months pregnant.

Elizabeth Hernandez Maddex, 19, and a co-defendant who had previously denied involvement in the crime unexpectedly changed their pleas when they appeared before U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor.

Maddex’s attorney, William Dougherty of Villa Park, said his client believed she had virtually no chance of prevailing at trial after the judge’s rejection of a defense request to suppress key evidence.

Dougherty had unsuccessfully argued that his client’s confession and key evidence from her Rowland Heights home had been illegally obtained.

Among the documents detectives seized from the home was a detailed to-do list that read in part: “Clean tubs, sink, counter and toilets, get ski mask, get police scanner, find escape route, borrow [gun] from someone. . . .”

“There is no sense in going to a trial,” Dougherty said. “The game was up.”

Thursday’s pleas mean that all three defendants in the Feb. 24 robbery have pleaded guilty.

Earlier this month, Maddex’s husband, 18-year-old Kiefer Kristian Maddex, entered his own guilty plea, implicating his wife and a 28-year-old friend, Larry Thomas Stratton Jr. of Garden Grove.

The three face up to 25 years in federal prison, but under federal sentencing guidelines will probably get four to eight years, defense attorneys said.