Bank robbery risk outweighs reward
| • | Robbery suspect likely to strike again, police say |
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
Nobody is saying how much was taken in the three bank robberies with which fugitive Ed Leiffer has been charged, or in the fourth he is suspected of committing Monday.
But odds are the take was small.
There were 35 bank robberies in Hawai'i last year.
The robbers got a grand total of $35,910.
That works out to $1,026 per robbery.
And most bank robbery suspects are caught — and if they are convicted, they face big time.
In return for chump change, Hawai'i robbers in federal court in 1999 got sentenced on average to 4 years, 7 months in a federal prison. Most were bank robbers.
No probation. No parole.
And they even have to pay the money back.
"It is one of the stupidest crimes you can commit," said Paul Perrone, who keeps statistics for the Dept. of the Attorney General.
Acting U.S. Attorney Eliott Enoki, whose office prosecutes bank robbers, says "the overwhelming majority of people that rob banks get away with very little money for the amount of risk involved, and are usually convicted and sentenced to a term of at least several years."
Serial bank robbers have accounted for a good chunk of the total in Hawai'i.
The "Black Beard Bandit," so named for his fake whiskers, is believed to have robbed eight banks in 2000, or almost one quarter of the total, and one of the 22 banks robbed this year.
William Sarcedo Jr., robbed eight banks, including six in one day in 1999.
Black Beard is still at large. Sarcedo is serving 5 years, 4 months in prison.
