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Busy bank robber
By Debra Barayuga
gets 5 years in plea
agreement
Star-BulletinA man charged with robbing four banks in one day was ordered to spend five years and four months in federal prison.
U.S. District Court Judge Helen Gillmor yesterday also ordered William Sarcedo Jr., 31, to undergo mental-health and substance-abuse treatment and to pay restitution of $2,270.
He could have faced up to 80 years in prison for robbing the Bank of Hawaii in Kaimuki, the International Savings and Loan and the Bank of Hawaii in Kapahulu, and the American Savings Bank on North School Street on one day in September 1999.
Under a plea agreement, however, prosecutors will not file charges against Sarcedo in four other bank robberies.
Sarcedo has admitted to passing notes to tellers during the robberies saying he was armed, telling them not to activate alarms, and demanding money.
Assistant federal public defender Shanlyn Souza said Sarcedo suffers from a serious mental health condition exacerbated by eight years of drug abuse.
Family members have said he was not in the right state of mind when he robbed the banks, and that stress and his failure to provide for his large family made him do it.
Sarcedo yesterday apologized to the bank tellers and employees who were traumatized by his actions. He also apologized to his parents, saying they had brought him up the best they could, and to wife Lisa for leaving her to care for their seven children.
