An Oakland man convicted of committing 17 Northern California bank robberies and two attempted heists within one year was sentenced in federal court in San Francisco Wednesday to eight years and one month in prison.
Duane Makela, 50, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who also ordered three years of supervised release after completion of the prison term.
Makela pleaded guilty before Breyer in October to carrying out 10 armed robberies of banks and credit unions, seven unarmed robberies and two attempted bank robberies between March 2018 and February 2019.
Defense attorneys said in a sentencing brief that Makela was addicted to heroin and methamphetamine at the time of the robberies.
The robbed institutions included banks and credit unions in the East Bay (one in Pleasant Hill), Peninsula and towns in or near the Sierra.
In total, Makela stole $69,002.
|
CHARGE |
DATE |
BANK OR CREDIT UNION |
LOCATION |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Bank Robbery | Mar.21, 2018 | Pacific Service | Pleasant Hill |
| 2. Bank Robbery | Mar.24, 2018 | Wells Fargo | South Lake Tahoe |
| 3. Bank Robbery | Mar.30, 2018 | U.S. Bank | Oakland |
| 4. Bank Robbery | Apr.11, 2018 | Pacific Service | San Ramon |
| 5. Bank Robbery | Apr.13, 2018 | Comerica | Palo Alto |
| 6. Bank Robbery | Apr.17, 2018 | Bank of the West | Orinda |
| 7. Attempted | May 11, 2018 | U.S Bank | San Ramon |
| 8. Bank Robbery | May 12, 2018 | Chase | Oakland |
| 9. Bank Robbery | May 24, 2018 | Sierra Central | South Lake Tahoe |
| 10. Bank Robbery | June 6, 2018 | U.S. Bank | Roseville |
| 11. Bank Robbery | June 12, 2018 | U.S. Bank | Pollack Pines |
| 12. Bank Robbery | Aug.25, 2018 | Wells Fargo | Mill Valley |
| 13. Attempted | Oct.18, 2018 | First Republic | Burlingame |
| 14. Bank Robbery | Oct.19, 2018 | Meriwest Credit | Mountain View |
| 15. Bank Robbery | Oct.22, 2018 | Chase | San Francisco |
| 16. Bank Robbery | Nov.3, 2018 | Wells Fargo | Orinda |
| 17. Bank Robbery | Nov.5, 2018 | U.S. Bank | Alameda |
| 18. Bank Robbery | Dec.23, 2018 | U.S. Bank | Castro Valley |
| 19. Bank Robbery | Feb.4, 2019 | Wells Fargo | Palo Alto |
Only 8 years?!?! He used a gun. Judge needs to send a better message
Not telling us, how long their sentence are. Hopefully long time enoight to tjrow out the key
Says 8 years and one month.
Before anyone starts yelling about people having guns to shoot the bad guy…
Cops – who are trained – hit their intended target usually between 30 to 50% of the time – those other bullets go somewhere…
Now take people who are not training regularly, give them a gun in a busy bank and say shoot the bad guy.
One bullet hits a bystander – that’ll cost the bank WAY more than $69,002…
Oh and about Armed Security Guards – remember regular cops accuracy – now get that at $17 an hour…
Since you put it that way, we should also ban police from having weapons!
**SARCASM**
I guess if he had robbed one bank he would have received a six month sentence.
Only 8 years? We will be lucky if he serves 6 years. What message does this send?????
As for his heroin and meth addiction, who’s fault is that??? He still did it!
That’s a little more than 2 years for each armed robbery not including the attempted heists.
Once again, no personal accountability.
California, the criminals sanctuary
@ Darwin
Keep in mind this is Federal time and not California time. There is no Federal parole system. He has to do his entire bit in a Federal penitentiary unlike California which allows parole – (the lowest form of custody).
He is eligible for 54 days per year off his sentence while in physical custody for good behavior. Assuming he is a good boy his entire time he will do approximately 6 years and 9’ish months in prison plus according to Rob the useless 3 years of Federal probation.
His sentence is actually 11 years 1 month. He can always be tossed back to Federal Penitentiary for probation violations during that 3 years time period.
If you think about it, he will do more time behind bars with the Feds then he would ever do if sentenced to state prison for the same time period…. probably even if sentenced to a longer state prison term.
California has nothing to do with his sentence, he was sentenced in a federal court.
@carnac & dawg
Thanks for the correction. As you know I’m disappointed in California’s justice system and now I’m disgusted with the Federal Justice system. No accountability
“Defense attorneys said in a sentencing brief that Makela was addicted to heroin and methamphetamine at the time of the robberies.”
Poor guy, now I understand why he only got 8 years.Seems fair. He can use the time to clean up, turn his life around and be a productive member of society like he was before his addiction kicked in. All the best Makela!
😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹
er a and the 69,000 is a Christmas bonus?
Wow all those robberies and he only got $69,000? Too bad he was
not able to work at a real job. He could have made that money easier I would think. Drugs will make a person do dumb things.
Well, he will have 8 years to work on his addiction problem.
What does he have against Bank of America? They have money too.
I was wondering that, too. Also, US Bank had six branches robbed by this guy. I wonder why he preferred US Bank and Wells Fargo branches.
Wow… 8 years (or 6 if he behaves) for 19 crimes.
That is what is wrong with our justice system.