Two men dubbed the “Cowboy Gun Bandits” by the FBI and who, six years ago, held up a gas station in Newhall, have been given decades-long prison sentences.
The pair were given the name “Cowboy Gun Bandits” because they used a large-caliber revolver during a series of robberies that targeted a bank and gas station convenience stores including an Arco station in Newhall on Oct. 6, 2013, Nicola T. Hanna, spokeswoman for the US Attorney’s office said in a news release issued Tuesday.
Dominic Dorsey, 51, of Hollywood, was sentenced late Friday by United States District Judge Christina A. Snyder to 40 years in federal prison.
Reginald Bailey, 74, of the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, was ordered Friday afternoon to serve a 35-year sentence.
In addition to the prison sentences, Judge Snyder ordered both men to pay restitution totaling $58,700.
Following a two-week trial in July 2016, a federal jury found Dorsey and Bailey guilty of 11 felony counts – conspiracy to interfere with commerce in violation of the Hobbs Act, five specific Hobbs Act robberies and five counts of using a firearm during the robberies.
The jury specifically found that Dorsey and Bailey committed five robberies:
• a September 24, 2013, robbery at a Shell gas station in Woodland Hills.
• an October 6, 2013, robbery at an ARCO gas station in Newhall.
• an October 18, 2013, robbery at a Chevron gas station in Woodland Hills.
• an October 25, 2013, robbery at an ARCO gas station in Encino.
• a November 5, 2013, robbery of a Citibank branch in Glendale that netted more than $55,000.
The jury heard evidence in relation to the conspiracy count that Dorsey and Bailey also committed robberies at three other gas stations in October 2013.
Documents filed by prosecutors in relation to the sentencings described “the violent, terroristic nature” of Dorsey and Bailey’s criminal conduct, and how they “repeatedly brandished and used a firearm to control and instill fear in innocent civilians in order to steal from them and their businesses.”
Many of the robberies were captured by video surveillance, which allowed investigators to determine that one of the robbers was missing part of his ring finger on his left hand, Hanna noted in the news release.
The video evidence helped lead authorities to Bailey, whose left hand is missing a portion of his ring finger.
The investigation into the string of robberies by the “Cowboy Gun Bandits” was conducted by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force on Violent Crime, which is made up of investigators with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.
The Glendale Police Department provided substantial assistance during the investigation.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph D. Axelrad and Jeffrey M. Chemerinsky of the Violent and Organized Crime Section.
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