Man Involved in 2008 Pinole Bank Robbery Receives Life Sentence

Bay City News

A man who led a three-day crime spree across Contra Costa County in 2008 that started with a carjacking in Richmond and ended with a police shootout will spend life in prison.

Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga on Friday sentenced former Rodeo resident Edjuan Scott, 29, to 113 years in prison plus an additional life sentence in connection with the crime spree.

"The defendant essentially terrorized Contra Costa County from the west side to the east side," prosecutor Chris Walpole said in court today. "It's devastating, what he's done, and extremely dangerous."

The crime spree began Aug. 7, 2008, when Scott's co-defendant, then-19-year-old Richmond resident Dominique Cole, carjacked a woman's SUV at
gunpoint in Richmond, according to authorities.

Prosecutors said Scott, Cole and Rodeo resident Renwicke Lampkin, then 20, drove the SUV to a California Check Cashing store in San Pablo that night where they carjacked a teller after she left the store.

The trio then kidnapped the woman in her own car and took her to a nearby home where they robbed her of the keys to the check-cashing store, according to prosecutors.

The following day, Scott and Cole donned masks and robbed a Wells
Fargo bank in Pinole. Scott threatened bank tellers and customers with an
assault rifle and made off with about $30,000 in cash, according to Walpole.

On Aug. 9, the trio robbed a Wells Fargo bank on A Street at East 18th Street in Antioch at gunpoint, ordered tellers and customers down on the floor while they stole more cash, according to police.

Antioch police caught up with the suspects in their stolen SUV and attempted to stop them, but the car continued onto state Highway 4 toward Pittsburg, leading police on a chase.

During the pursuit, Scott leaned out of the car and fired several rounds at the cars behind him, striking an Antioch patrol car. The suspect vehicle stopped with a crash in Pittsburg, its tires shredded after driving over spike strips police had placed on the road.

After exiting the car at an auto body shop yard, Scott fired multiple rounds at Antioch and Pittsburg police officers. Three Antioch officers and three Pittsburg officers shot back, striking both Cole and Lampkin, police said.

All three were arrested and booked into jail. Police recovered the suspects' weapons and stolen cash at the scene.

Last month, a jury convicted Scott of 23 felonies, including attempted murder, kidnapping, carjacking and assault with a firearm.

During a sanity phase of the trial last month, the jury also found that the defendant was legally sane when he committed the crimes, despite suffering from a range of mental health problems.

Zuniga today said she took Scott's mental health issues into consideration before determining his sentence, but that she had not seen evidence that he lacked free will or that he did not know what he was doing.

The judge said she also weighed Scott's prior felony convictions and his increasing pattern of violent behavior.

Lampkin was sentenced last month to 21 years in prison for his role in the crime spree, and Cole is awaiting trial.