Convicted Bank Robber Gets 92 Months In Jail, Must Repay $42K

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A High Desert man who threatened to shoot tellers and others when he robbed eight banks in Southern California, including one in Temecula, over a six-week span was sentenced Monday to 92 months in federal prison.

Gregory Walter Barnes, 40, of Pinon Hills, was sentenced in downtown Los Angeles by U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald, who also ordered him to pay $41,931 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Barnes pleaded guilty on Feb. 10 to one count of bank robbery.

According to his plea agreement, Barnes, wearing a hat and sunglasses as a disguise, robbed one U.S. Bank branch in Victorville and seven Chase bank branches in Fontana, Reseda, Woodland Hills, Temecula, Glendale, Hesperia and Ventura between May 22 and July 6, 2018.

In all eight heists, Barnes threatened to use a gun against the teller, other bank employees or people in the lobby, according to court documents. In one robbery, Barnes passed a handwritten note to a teller asking for money and saying, "If I even think that you are grabbing any (dye packs or GPS trackers) I'll pull out (my) gun."

During another robbery, Barnes told the bank teller, "I have a gun and will not hesitate to pull it out and use it on your fellow employee out here," court papers show.

The total loss to the banks was $41,931 -- most of which was suffered by Chase. Barnes' bank robbery spree in Southern California was followed by a ninth bank robbery in Las Vegas on July 9, 2018, where he was arrested for that crime, federal prosecutors said.

For that robbery, Barnes was convicted and sentenced in Nevada state court to three to 10 years' imprisonment. He was transferred to federal custody in December after being charged in the case filed in Los Angeles.

- City News Service