'It's The Lottery Curse,' Says Jackpot Winner Turned Bank Robber

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA — Call it the "lottery curse defense."

James Allen Hayes, A former security guard who won a $19 million SuperLotto jackpot, lost it all and became a serial bank robber will be handed a prison sentence Thursday. His defense attorney, pleading for leniency, wrote that Hayes was a victim of the "lottery curse" and lost his "bearing in life" before turning to bank robbery.

Hayes is the man known to the FBI as the "PT Cruiser Bandit" and the "Seasoned Bandit" responsible for a string of bank robberies in Pacific Palisades, Stevenson Ranch, Valencia, Newhall and elsewhere. Investigators say he robbed banks to feed his $1,000-a-week heroin habit. He was homeless and living in a garage when the FBI finally closed in on him last year. Hayes' heists netted him about $40,000.

As part of his plea agreement, the 56-year-old Hayes agreed to forfeit a light-colored Chrysler PT Cruiser, which was used in some of the robberies and earned him the "PT Cruiser Bandit" moniker.

Prosecutors are asking U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin to hand Hayes about five years behind bars, while the defense is pushing for a year in custody.

Hayes was supposed to spend his days tinkering with his classic car, vacationing with his wife on a tropical beach and helping out his friends and family. Hayes, then a graveyard shift security guard in Ventura, was sure his string of bad luck had come to an end in 1998 when he won the $19 million jackpot. The odds of winning the prize were more than 18 million to 1.

Upon winning, he quit his night shift job with Dial Security in Ventura County. He would no longer have to live paycheck to paycheck. The IRS would get off his back and he’d soup up his ‘68 Camaro. He would be able to spend more time with his wife, who worked days, and they would be able to take a trip to Hawaii.

"I'm not going to blow the money," Hayes told the Los Angeles Times back in 1998. "I know I'll change. But only for the better. ... Mainly what I want to do is help out my family and friends in need." The money couldn’t have come at a better time.

“I don't have a savings account," Hayes admitted to the Times. "I have a restored muscle car."

But Hayes saw his winning as a sign of good things to come. He and his wife would buy a nice house together in Camarillo, and he’d keep playing the lottery because now luck was on his side. And he’d buy a new car, he told the local newspaper.

It didn’t take long for Hayes’ life to fall apart. Not long after he won the lottery, he got divorced, and his ex-wife got half of the money, according to reports. Hayes walked away with a $6 million lump sum. It wasn’t enough to support a serious drug habit. Spending, $1,000 a week on heroin, Hayes blew through his winnings, according to investigators.

So the former security guard became a bank robber.

In each heist, Hayes used a note to rob the bank.

On May 24 of 2017, Hayes walked into a Union Bank on Carpinteria Avenue and slipped the teller with a note that read, “$5,000, no signals, no dye packs, no GPS, no sensors, no eye contact.”

But after getting away with 10 robberies between April and September, Hayes' luck finally ran out.

City News Service contributed to this report. Photos courtesy of the FBI