UKIAH, Calif. – A serial bank robber was convicted on Friday of having committed the August robbery of the Redwood Credit Union in Point Arena.
Admitting responsibility in Ukiah before Superior Court Judge Clayton Brennan Friday afternoon, Frederick Orlando, 55, of Magalia, pleaded guilty to the August robbery and admitted nine separate sentencing enhancements.
As summarized during that court hearing by District Attorney David Eyster, Orlando traveled from Magalia to Point Arena, entered the credit union with another man, brandished a handgun at bank tellers and customers, demanded money from the cash drawers, and then herded all the people to a back room.
He and a co-defendant then attempted to make their escape east on Fish Rock Road with the stolen money. However, the getaway car was boxed in on that rural, dirt road by Sheriff’s Deputy Luis Espinoza coming in from the east and California Highway Patrol Officer Terry Solomon pursuing from the west.
Orlando has been held since August in the Mendocino County jail with bail set at over $1 million, officials reported.
His jury trial had been scheduled to begin on Nov. 26 but, instead, a sentencing hearing is now scheduled for Nov. 21, according to Eyster's office.
Eyster noted the sentencing of Orlando will only be a formality because Orlando, through his counsel, agreed on the record with Eyster that Orlando shall receive a stipulated state prison sentence of 45 years to life.
According to Eyster, he prosecuted Orlando under California’s Three Strikes laws because the defendant previously served time in a federal penitentiary for four separate bank robberies in Southern California. Orlando also served state prison time for a residential burglary conviction in the 1980s.
“While Orlando targeted Point Arena because he believed it to be a sleepy, coastal town with few people around and even fewer law enforcement officers to interfere,” said Eyster, “he didn’t appreciate the great cooperation and communication that exists on our South Coast between the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, Fish and Game wardens and Sonoma County’s Sheriff’s Office.”
According to investigators, Orlando remains a suspect in other bank robberies, including at least one that involves a Forestville bank.
It has also been reported that Orlando has confessed while in the Mendocino County Jail to being responsible for a 30-year-old unsolved murder in Southern California.
Orlando’s defense attorney is Public Defender Linda Thompson. The prosecution of Orlando has been handled by Eyster and Assistant District Attorney Paul Sequeira.