Crime & Safety
'Beach Cruiser' Bank Bandit Pleads Guilty to Manhattan Beach Robbery
Manhattan Beach Police detectives used "old-fashioned" detective work to track down the suspect. Their efforts resulted in his capture after he was recognized by someone who'd seen a "Wanted" poster in a nearby community.
By City News Service
A 56-year-old convicted bank robber pleaded guilty Thursday to escaping from federal custody and robbing a Manhattan Beach bank.
Daniel Warren Gaudio, formerly of Desert Springs, was arrested in April in connection with the robbery of the U.S. Bank branch, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
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A month earlier, Gaudio had escaped from a federal halfway house in Harrisburg, PA, where he was serving a nine-year sentence for two bank robberies and transporting a stolen pickup truck, prosecutors said.
In exchange for his guilty pleas today, Gaudio will not be prosecuted for the robberies of a Union Bank branch in Santa Monica in March and a Pacific Western Bank branch in Pacific Palisades in April, according to a plea agreement.
Find out what's happening in Manhattan Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In the Manhattan Beach heist on March 29, Gaudio approached a U.S. Bank teller, brandished a BB gun that looked like an actual firearm, and said, "Give me all the $100 bills; don't give me any dye packs; don't give me any bait money," according to the plea document, which said Gaudio made off with about $3,880.
U.S. District Judge S. James Otero set Jan. 6 for sentencing.
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