{"id":9367,"date":"2020-01-21T18:35:52","date_gmt":"2020-01-22T02:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/?p=9367"},"modified":"2025-12-29T18:37:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T02:37:02","slug":"oakland-man-gets-8-years-prison-for-19-bank-robberies-including-in-south-lake-tahoe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/2020\/01\/21\/oakland-man-gets-8-years-prison-for-19-bank-robberies-including-in-south-lake-tahoe\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland Man gets 8+ Years Prison For 19 Bank Robberies including in South Lake Tahoe"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Duane Kurt Makela was sentenced to 97 months in prison in connection with ten armed bank robberies, seven unarmed bank robberies, and two attempted bank robberies across Northern California, announced Northern District of California Acting U.S. Attorney Adam A. Reeves, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott of the Eastern District of California, and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett.<\/p>\n

The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Charles R. Breyer, Senior U.S. District Judge.<\/p>\n

Makela, 50, of Oakland, pleaded guilty to the charges on October 3, 2019. \u00a0Makela admitted in open court that between March 2018 and February 2019, he committed or attempted to commit 19 robberies of banks and credit unions largely located in the San Francisco Bay Area but also in towns in or near the Sierra Nevada Mountains. \u00a0As part of his plea, Makela agreed that he entered the banks and credit unions and demanded that employees hand over money. \u00a0Makela further acknowledged that during each armed robbery, he brandished what appeared to be a handgun and directed employees of the banks and credit unions to hand over money. \u00a0In total, Makela stole $69,002.<\/p>\n

Makela robbed or attempted to rob the following banks and credit unions on the following dates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
CHARGE<\/strong><\/th>\nDATE<\/strong><\/th>\nBANK OR CREDIT UNION<\/strong><\/th>\nLOCATION<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
1.\u00a0 Armed Bank Robbery<\/td>\nMarch 21, 2018<\/td>\nPacific Service Credit Union<\/td>\nPleasant Hill, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2.\u00a0 Bank Robbery<\/td>\nMarch 24, 2018<\/td>\nWells Fargo Bank<\/td>\nSouth Lake Tahoe, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3.\u00a0 Bank Robbery<\/td>\nMarch 30, 2018<\/td>\nU.S. Bank<\/td>\nOakland, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4.\u00a0 Armed Bank Robbery<\/td>\nApril 11, 2018<\/td>\nPacific Service Credit Union<\/td>\nSan Ramon, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5.\u00a0 Armed Bank Robbery<\/td>\nApril 13, 2018<\/td>\nComerica Bank<\/td>\nPalo Alto, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6.\u00a0 Bank Robbery<\/td>\nApril 17, 2018<\/td>\nBank of the West<\/td>\nOrinda, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7. Attempted Bank Robbery<\/td>\nMay 11, 2018<\/td>\nU.S Bank<\/td>\nSan Ramon, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8. Armed Bank Robbery<\/td>\nMay 12, 2018<\/td>\nChase Bank<\/td>\nOakland, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9.\u00a0 Bank Robbery<\/td>\nMay 24, 2018<\/td>\nSierra Central Credit Union<\/td>\nSouth Lake Tahoe, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10. Bank Robbery<\/td>\nJune 6, 2018<\/td>\nU.S. Bank<\/td>\nRoseville, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11. Armed Bank Robbery<\/td>\nJune 12, 2018<\/td>\nU.S. Bank<\/td>\nPollock Pines, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
12. Armed Bank Robbery<\/td>\nAugust 25, 2018<\/td>\nWells Fargo Bank<\/td>\nMill Valley, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
13. Attempted Bank Robbery<\/td>\nOctober 18, 2018<\/td>\nFirst Republic Bank<\/td>\nBurlingame, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
14. Armed Bank Robbery<\/td>\nOctober 19, 2018<\/td>\nMeriwest Credit Union<\/td>\nMountain View, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
15. Armed Bank Robbery<\/td>\nOctober 22, 2018<\/td>\nChase Bank<\/td>\nSouth San Francisco, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
16. Bank Robbery<\/td>\nNovember 3, 2018<\/td>\nWells Fargo Bank<\/td>\nOrinda, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
17. Armed Bank Robbery<\/td>\nNovember 5, 2018<\/td>\nU.S. Bank<\/td>\nAlameda, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
18. Armed Bank Robbery<\/td>\nDecember 23, 2018<\/td>\nU.S. Bank<\/td>\nCastro Valley, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
19. Bank Robbery<\/td>\nFebruary 4, 2019<\/td>\nWells Fargo Bank<\/td>\nPalo Alto, CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

On May 7, 2019, a federal grand jury indicted Makela, charging him with four counts of armed bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 2113(a) and (d), and one count of unarmed bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 2113(a). \u00a0On September 25, 2019, Makela waived his right to indictment and to venue for those charges arising out of the Eastern District of California, and he was arraigned on a superseding information alleging the above-listed crimes. \u00a0On October 3, 2019, Makela pleaded guilty to all 19 counts in the superseding information.<\/p>\n

In addition to the prison term, Judge Breyer ordered Makela to serve a three-year period of supervised release and ordered full restitution to the victim banks and credit unions.<\/p>\n

Northern District of California Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Walsh is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Rosario Calderon and Margoth Turcios. \u00a0Eastern District of California Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rodriguez assisted.<\/p>\n

The prosecution is the result of investigations by the FBI with assistance from the police departments of Pleasant Hill, Orinda, Daly City, South Lake Tahoe, Oakland, San Ramon, Palo Alto, Roseville, Burlingame, Mountain View, South San Francisco, and Alameda, as well as the Contra Costa County, El Dorado County, Marin County, and Alameda County Sheriff\u2019s Offices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Duane Kurt Makela was sentenced to 97 months in prison in connection with ten armed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","darknews-slider-full":"","darknews-featured":"","darknews-medium":"","darknews-medium-square":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"News MoLo","author_link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/author\/admin\/"},"category_info":"Crime<\/a>","tag_info":"Crime","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9367"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9368,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9367\/revisions\/9368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}