101 Bandit pleads guilty

By MARSHA DORGAN
Register Staff Writer

A former Napa resident pleaded guilty Monday to robbing 20 banks, mostly along the Highway 101 corridor, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Arthur Eli Cheney, 65, admitted that from June through December 2007 he robbed the banks or credit unions around California, as well as one in Utah, the DOJ said. None of the banks was in Napa County.

Cheney said he netted about $46,000, and although he never showed any weapons, he did threaten bank staff that he was armed while committing at least seven of the robberies, the press release said.

The maximum penalty for each count is 20 years and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution.

Federal investigators believe Cheney used his 2002 silver Mercedes CL500 as the getaway car.

He was arrested in December after a California Highway Patrol officer saw the Mercedes heading north on Highway 70, south of Marysville, in Yuba County. The vehicle matched the description of the one released by the FBI.

The CHP officer stopped the Mercedes and ordered Cheney at gunpoint to get out of the vehicle. A search of the car turned up a yellow sticky note in the center console with a handwritten message, “Robbery — 100s and 50s only,” the CHP said.

Cheney is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 20.

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