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'Granddad Bandit' gets 25-year sentence

'Granddad Bandit' gets 25-year sentence

By MARK BOWES
Published: May 12, 2011

A career criminal who committed 25 bank robberies in 14 states in less than two years was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison Wednesday for two of the holdups in the Richmond area.
Michael Francis Mara, 53, whom the FBI dubbed the "Granddad Bandit" as part of a nationwide publicity campaign to identify and catch him, also was ordered to make restitution of $83,368.99 -- the total sum he netted over a 20-month period between December 2008 and August 2010.
Mara will be required to make monthly payments of at least $100 upon his release.
U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer imposed the punishment as recommended in a plea agreement Mara accepted in February by pleading guilty to the two Richmond-area holdups and admitting to 23 others from New York to Texas.
Mara will be about 75 before being released from federal detention, which federal prosecutor Roderick C. Young said is "probably a life sentence" given Mara's poor health.
Mara has a number of ailments, including gastrointestinal problems and "frozen-shoulder syndrome," plus severe depression for which he apparently has never received treatment, his attorney said.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Elizabeth S. Wilson said Mara's depression "has repeatedly interfered with his function and ability to make good choices."
At Wilson's urging, the judge recommended that Mara be housed in a federal prison capable of providing treatment for his medical and mental-health needs and, if possible, close to where his wife lives in Louisiana. Mara met his wife several months before his crimes began and married her in June 2009, Wilson said in court documents.
"Although he was admittedly dishonest with his wife, she has continued to stand by his side," Wilson said, adding her continued presence in his life will assist in his rehabilitation. Mara has no other family.
Young told the court that Mara has two sides -- a clinically depressed and medically disabled side, and a "conniving, stealing" and career-criminal side -- and it is the criminal side that has been breaking the law throughout most of his adult life.
Young said Mara started an extensive criminal record at 18, with convictions that include check fraud, car theft, breaking and entering, robbery, forgery and grand theft. In March 1985, the prosecutor noted, Mara committed a bank robbery in San Bernardino, Calif., that was done using the same template as the most recent holdups.
After serving eight years for that crime, Mara relocated to Virginia, where he was arrested and later convicted in 1995 of breaking into an apartment in Chesapeake and stealing guns, ammunition and personal photos belonging to the victim. He was working as the apartment complex's maintenance man and used his master key to enter.
When he was arrested, police discovered badges, a stun gun, knives, ropes and "disturbing photographs" in his vehicle during a search. Mara told officers that he was a "monster" and needed to be removed from society, according to court papers.
Mara's recent string of bank robberies began with the Dec. 18, 2008, holdup of the SunTrust Bank at 919 E. Main St. in Richmond, and ended with the Aug. 10, 2010, robbery of a BB&T Bank in Charlotte, N.C. He was arrested a day later in Baton Rouge, La., where he was living.
He also pleaded guilty to the June 22, 2010, holdup of the First Union Market Bank branch in the 11200 block of West Broad Street in Glen Allen.
Young noted that Mara was identified and captured as a result of an FBI publicity campaign that including posting Mara's image from bank surveillance photos on digital billboards across the country.
The FBI played up Mara's balding, graying and grandfatherly appearance -- calling him the Granddad Bandit -- in seeking the public's help in catching him. The publicity paid off, with the bureau's Norfolk field office receiving a tip Aug. 2, leading to his arrest nine days later.
"He is deeply remorseful and shameful of his actions," Wilson said.