WOODLAND HILLS— A man who robbed 8 banks in Southern California, including one in Woodland Hills, and threatened to shoot tellers was sentenced Monday, May 5 to 92 months in Federal prison.
According to the US Department of Justice, Gregory Walter Barnes, 40, of Piñon Hills, threatened to shoot tellers and others when he robbed eight banks in Southern California over a six-week span, including one Chase bank in Woodland Hills. Between May 22, 2018 and July 6, 2018, Barnes robbed one U.S. Bank branch in Victorville and seven Chase Bank branches in Fontana, Reseda, Woodland Hills, Temecula, Glendale, Hesperia, and Ventura, all while wearing a hat and sunglasses as a disguise. Barnes admitted to threatening the use of a gun against the bank teller, other bank employees, or people in the bank branch’s lobby. In once case, Barnes passed a handwritten note to one 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,” according to court documents. 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.”
In addition to the 8 banks in California, Barnes then went on to rob a ninth bank in Las Vegas on July 9, 2018 and was arrested for that crime. For that Las Vegas robbery, Barnes was convicted and sentenced in Nevada state court to a 3 to 10 year imprisonment. He was then transferred to federal custody in December 2019 after being charged in this case.
Barnes pleaded guilty on February 10 to one count of bank robbery. The total loss to the California bank robberies was $41,931, most of which was suffered by Chase. Barnes was sentenced to 92 months in federal prison on Monday for these crimes. In addition to prison time, United States District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald also ordered Barnes to pay $41,931 in restitution.
