Bank robbery trial for alleged seasoned bandit to start this month

surveillance photo of suspected PT Cruiser Bandit. courtesy photo of LASD
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The man who at one time won $19 million—only to be accused 20 years later of robbing a dozen banks, including a half dozen of them here in the Santa Clarita Valley—is scheduled to stand trial this month.

James Allen Hayes, who won the lottery back in 1998, winning a cash prize of $19 million, was scheduled to stand trial Feb. 27.

On Friday morning, Hayes was expected to appear at U.S. District Court before U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin for a pre-trial conference, in advance of the trial, but that didn’t happen.

Suspected bank robber – Seasoned Bandit. photo courtesy of LASD.

His defense lawyer, Stephen Demik, told The Signal Friday: “We filed a continuance,” meaning the pretrial conference will take place later.

The crimes for which Hayes stands accused, however, remain unchanged.

A little over three months ago, Hayes appeared in U.S. District Court where he was formally charged with 10 counts of bank robbery and one count of attempted bank robbery in connection with an alleged bank robbing spree which began in April.

At that time, he entered a plea of “not guilty.”

According to the 12-page Grand Jury indictment filed against him, Hayes is alleged to have robbed five SCV banks, as well as banks along the coast including: Carpinteria, Goleta, Santa Maria and Pacific Palisades.

Local financial Institutions Hayes is alleged to have robbed include:

– Monday June 12: Shortly before 3 p.m., a lone male walked into the bank branch of Wells Fargo near the intersection of Lyons Avenue and Wiley Canyon Road. He gave a note to a teller demanding money and indicating he had a gun, although no gun was seen.

– Tuesday June 27: A couple of minutes before 5 p.m., a lone male walked into the Chase Bank branch on Lyons Avenue at Apple Street. He gave a note to a teller demanding money and indicating he had a gun, although no gun was seen.

– Tuesday July 25: About 5:15 p.m., a lone male entered the Logix Valencia Promenade bank branch on McBean Parkway near Magic Mountain Parkway. He gave a note to a teller demanding money and indicating he had a gun, although no gun was seen.

– Thursday Aug. 10: A couple of minutes after 5 p.m., a lone male walked into the California Credit Union on Magic Mountain Parkway. He gave a note to a teller demanding money and indicating he had a gun, although no gun was seen.

– Monday Aug. 21: About 6 p.m., a long male walked calmly into the Wescom Credit Union on Pico Canyon Road at The Old Road in Stevenson Ranch. He gave a note to a teller demanding money and indicating he had a gun, although no gun was seen.

– Monday Sept. 25: shortly after 4 p.m., a lone man described as in his 60s entered the same Wells Fargo branch he hit on June 1,  demanded money and calmly walked out of the bank when he was given no money, got into a PT Cruiser and left.

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on Twitter @jamesarthurholt

Suspected getaway vehicle – PT Cruiser – used by suspected bank robber

 

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