Bank Robber, 78, Begins 2-Year Prison Term

A federal prison accepted one of its oldest inmates Monday as 78-year-old Ray Boeger began serving a 28-month term for a 1997 bank robbery, authorities said.

Boeger, a Westminster grandfather, pleaded guilty in March to charges of robbing $2,500 from a Huntington Beach World Savings and Loan, using an unloaded handgun. Boeger said he did not recall robbing the bank and said he must have gotten the idea after drinking in a bar the day of the robbery.

Because there is no parole in the federal prison system, Boeger will not be released from the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island in Los Angeles until he is more than 80.

Because of Boeger’s age, the facility will provide medical supervision, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Marc Greenberg.

Asked if Boeger was the oldest inmate in the Southern California federal prison system, Greenberg said, “I certainly hope he is. I hope we don’t have a whole legion of elderly people in prison.”