Articles Posted in Robbery

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Guy William Savage, or the Buddy Holly Bandit, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after an Anaheim bank robbery. Savage was shot and wounded by Anaheim police after waking into a Washington Mutual bank with a fake bomb taped to himself in 2005. He claims that police did not let him get medical help right away, which caused flesh eating bacteria to invade his body and nearly kill him. He was convicted of bank robbery charges and has to spend 10 years in prison and pay the bank back about $12,000. Once he is released from prison, he will have to go to drug counseling since he claims that he robbed the banks because of his drug addiction.

Savage had such a severe addiction to drugs that he would do anything to pay for his addiction. Robbing a bank to get money is not a good idea. Banks have lots of security and video cameras and people rarely get away with bank robberies. You will receive a larger sentence if you use a weapon to commit your robbery. A fake bomb would be considered a weapon since it instills fear in people. Whether you live in Westminster, Aliso Viejo or Tustin, if you are charged with robbery, you will need an experienced criminal defense attorney on your side.

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Timothy Wade Voroshuck walked into a Santa Ana CVS and demanded OxyContin from the employee behind the pharmacy counter. The robber claimed he had a gun and when the employee refused to give him OxyContin, the robber jumped on the counter and tried to fight with the employee. The quick thinking employee gave him Tylenol instead and told him it was OxyContin. Officers quickly arrived and arrested Voroshuck for robbery and false imprisonment. He is in jail with his bail amount set at $145,000.

Clearly, Voroshuck was addicted to OxyContin and was desperate to get his hands on some more. In desperation, people do crazy things. He will likely face a few years in jail for the robbery and false imprisonment. He will need an experienced criminal defense attorney to assist him in fighting his legal charges.

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Earlier this week in Laguna Beach, a jewelry store was robbed by three men. They took about $600,000 worth of jewelry. Two witnesses called the police after witnessing the robbery. When police arrived, the suspects had already left in a white Ford Fusion. A while later, an officer driving in Aliso Viejo saw the car and pursued the suspects. The three men jumped out of the car and ran into a parking structure. Officers surrounded the structure and looked for the three suspects for three hours, but it is believed that the suspects escaped through a drainage ditch. The white Fusion that was left by the suspects was searched and some of the jewelry was found.

The jewelry store had surveillance cameras so it should be just a matter of days until the robbers are caught. Once these robbers are caught, they will be charged with robbery and evading arrest. A robbery counts as a strike on your record and once someone gets three strikes, they spend their life in prison. These suspects will need a good criminal defense attorney to defend them in this case.

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Rodrigo Everado Preciado, calling himself Hector, introduced himself to Jeremy Ho at a gas station in June. They hit it off and became fast friends. Preciado and Ho decided to meet in Westminster to go get drinks with some of Preciado’s friends. When Ho met Preciado up, Rodrigo pulled a gun on him and told him to get out of the car. Ho’s wallet, jewelry, car keys, car and cell phone were stolen and he was told not to call the police or he would be killed. Preciado and his friends tried to use Ho’s credit card at Walgreens in Fullerton and were eventually caught. Preciado is charged with carjacking, robbery and criminal threats.

Carjacking is the taking of someone’s car that is accomplished through fear or force. For that charge alone, Preciado could face up to 9 years in state prison. Besides the carjacking, Preciado also stole from Ho and will face additional prison time for that.

Whether you live in Mission Viejo, Santa Ana or Huntington Beach, if you are charged with carjacking, you will need an experienced criminal defense attorney right away to assist you.

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Around 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon, officers responded to a call about a bank robbery at the Bank of America on Irvine Boulevard and Jamboree Road. Jeffrey Hudson was inside the bank, trying to rob it. Once he exited the bank with his backpack full of money, he realized that officers had surrounded the building. Officers asked Hudson to surrender, but instead, Hudson shot himself in the head one time. He was taken to the hospital and died a few hours later.

Robbery is the taking of property of another with force or intimidation, with the intent to keep the item. With the economy the way it is these days, it is not hard to understand why he would rob a bank, however I do not condone this type of behavior. If he would have survived the shooting, he would have been facing serious prison time for his actions. He would have needed an experienced Orange County defense attorney to assist him in his legal matters.

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In Santa Ana Superior Court today, a complaint was filed against Andrew Urdiales for the alleged murder of 5 Southern California women. Between the years of 1986 and 1995, Urdiales was said to have murdered Robbin Brandley, a Saddleback College student, and four prostitutes: Julie McGhee, Maryann Wells, Tammie Erwin and Denise Maney. He confessed to these killings in 1997, after being arrested for killing two Illinois women. In 2002, Urdiales was convicted of two counts of murder in Illinois and was sentenced to death, however, this punishment was reduced to life in prison by a former Illinois governor. In 2004, Urdiales was convicted of murdering another Illinois women and was sentenced to death once again. Urdiales is currently appealing his death sentence in Illinois. Orange County prosecutors are still deciding if they want to pursue the death penalty against Urdiales for the 5 alleged murders he committed in California.

A serial killer is a person who murders 3 or more people over a long period of time with a cooling off period between murders. There is often a psychological gratification behind the murders. Notable United States serial killers include Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and David Berkowitz.

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In 1992, Shaun Kareem Burney, a 19-year-old from Tustin placed a gun against the skull of Joseph Andrew Kondrath, a 23-year-old Anaheim college student. He robbed him of $1 and then put him in the trunk of a stolen car. A few minutes later, Burney opened the trunk and fired two shots into Kondrath’s head, killing him. During the trial, prosecutors argued that Kondrath was killed so he would not be a witness to the carjacking and robbery. In 1994, Burney was charged with murder and sentenced to death. His co-defendants were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Burney appealed his conviction and sentence and on Thursday of this week, the Supreme Court of California affirmed his conviction and his sentence.

The death penalty is a sentence given only to murders that possess special circumstances besides just a murder. This case involved a carjacking, a robbery and a murder. Those three crimes make it a special circumstances case that is eligible for capital punishment. Capital punishment is a controversial form of punishment. Proponents of the death penalty claim that it is useful for retribution, general deterrence and incapacitation. Opponents of the death penalty claim that it is too strict of a penalty and wrongfully accused people can be wrongfully executed. Regardless if you live in Irvine, Fullerton or Newport Beach, if you are charged with capital murder, you will need an experienced criminal defense attorney.

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A 17-year-old teenager named Lily Burk was found dead in her car in Los Angeles last week. It looked as if she had died from blunt force trauma to the head. Earlier in the day, Burk had gone to Southwestern Law School to pick up some papers for her mother who was a teacher there. On her way home, she called both of her parents separately to ask them how to use her ATM card. They had no idea that she was asking because she was being robbed. Allegedly, Mr. Charlie Samuel, a transient with a history of drug and violent crimes, tried to rob Burk. A struggle ensued inside the car and hours later, Burk’s dead body was found inside her black Volvo. Charlie Samuel had been arrested hours before the body had been found for other crimes. He is now being held without bail for the crime of murder.

Burk was an active student at her high school. She was supposed to star in a play at her school and wanted to become a writer in the future.

This is an unfortunate event and Mr. Samuel will need an experienced criminal defense attorney, whether this happened in Los Angeles, Irvine, or Anaheim. The attorney will need to investigate what Mr. Samuel was doing that day, what events occurred, if he in fact robbed Ms. Burk and how she died. A good defense attorney does not concede that his client did the crime. Instead, they look at all available evidence and defenses and craft well researched arguments to adequately defend their client and ensure them a fair trial.

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Wearing a wig and handkerchief over his face, a man robbed a Bank of America in Laguna Hills last week. He walked into the bank, forced the employees and customers to line up against the wall and held them at gunpoint. He then led the bank manager and a teller to the vault where he made them open it and give him an undisclosed amount of money. He was described as being a 5 foot male weighing about 100 pounds. He had stated that he had a partner waiting outside and the bank surveillance camera caught an image of a blue Dodge Ram with custom rims in the parking lot that they believe was the getaway vehicle. The bank was robbed at the same time last year by a similar looking suspect and they will now offer $10,000 for any information relating to the suspect or the robbery.

It is amazing to me that even with all the security the bank has, people can still rob them. Whether in Laguna Hills, Irvine, Fullerton or Newport Beach, most banks have tons of surveillance cameras and secret panic buttons and even a security guard, but people still are brave enough and able to rob them. It will likely just be a matter of time before these suspects are caught. A $10,000 reward for information is tempting for anyone who knows anything about the suspects or the robbery. The bank robbers will likely face plenty of prison time once caught.

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A Huntington Beach couple were terrorized Wednesday afternoon when robbers broke in with handguns and stole a shotgun and some marijuana plants. The police are continuing their investigation into the crime.

What makes this interesting is what was taken. It may be that the victims become defendants since they would have admitted to possessing a large number of marijuana plants, unless they had a prescription to cultivate it for personal use. Medical marijuana is not legal in all states and can only be prescribed by physicians.

The robbers additionally stole a shotgun and a handgun that belonged to the Huntington Beach couple. If the residents of the home do not have a gun permit, they may face criminal charges.

Whether this robbery occurred in Newport Beach, Irvine, Westminster or Fullerton, the defendants would be facing serious prison time.

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