Department of Justice

SAN FRANCISCO – United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced that Arthur Eli Cheney pleaded guilty today to robbing twenty banks that were federally insured.

In pleading guilty, Mr. Cheney admitted that from June 18, 2007 through December 12, 2007, he robbed twenty banks or credit unions located in the Northern, Eastern, Central, and Southern Districts of California, and one bank in the District of Utah. He admitted that he took a combined total of $46,040 from the banks, and that although he did not brandish a firearm, he did threaten the use of a pistol in at least seven of the robberies. Mr. Cheney is known as the “Highway 101 Bandit” because he frequently targeted banks adjacent to the Highway 101 corridor in California, including Corte Madera, Petaluma, Burlingame, Belmont, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Campbell, San Jose, Brentwood, Santa Barbara, and San Marino. In addition to the Highway 101 targets, Mr. Cheney also admitted to robbing banks in Vacaville, Fairfield, West Lake Village, San Diego, Carlsbad, Palm Desert and Sandy City, Utah.

Mr. Cheney, 65 of Napa, California, was charged on July 7, 2008, with twenty counts of bank robbery in violation of Title 18, U.S.C., § 2113. Under the plea agreement, Mr. Cheney pled guilty to all twenty counts.

"The FBI remains committed to working with our state and local partners to address the crimes affecting our community on a daily basis," said Special Agent in Charge Charlene B. Thornton. "Crossing jurisdictional boundaries or state lines will not help perpetrators evade the law for long."

Mr. Cheney remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. The sentencing of Mr. Cheney is scheduled for October 20, 2008 before Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in San Francisco. The maximum statutory penalty for each count in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) is 20 years and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Derek Owens is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Hui Chen. The prosecution is the result of a six month investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Further Information:             

Case #: CR 08-0441 MHP

A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.

Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Joshua Eaton at (415) 436-6958 or by email at Josh.Eaton@usdoj.gov.

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