Aug 10, 2009 7:48 pm US/Pacific
Goofy Hat Bandit Sentenced To 16 Years
LOS ANGELES
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The robber earned his nickname by wearing hats during his robberies, including various colors of fishing hats, fedoras and baseball caps. (File)
Courtesy FBI
A 58-year-old bank robber dubbed the "Goofy Hat Bandit" was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles federal court to 16 years in prison.
William Vance Turner pleaded guilty in November before U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow to an indictment charging him with six counts of bank robbery.
Turner was arrested in June 2007 in a parking lot near his Ladera Heights home.
Authorities had said Turner was suspected of robbing nearly 40 banks, the last being a Citibank branch in Pasadena that was held up the week before his arrest.
The indictment charged with robbing six banks between July 12, 2006 and May 3, 2007.
Turner typically showed the teller a note demanding cash in hundreds, fifties and twenties, authorities have said.
The robber earned his nickname by wearing hats during his robberies, including various colors of fishing hats, fedoras and baseball caps.
When he was taken into custody, he was on probation after serving a nine-year sentence for bank robbery in the early 1990s. He was known then as the Pershing Square Bandit because he held up more than 30 banks, mostly in downtown Los Angeles, officials said.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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