Aguirre pleads guilty, sentenced to federal prison for Kansas bank robbery
March 16, 2012
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
A Santa Paula man was sentenaced to 147 months in federal prison for an armed bank robbery in Dodge City, Kansas, and an incident that led to his being shot the next day by law enforcement officers.
Late last year Angel Garcia Aguirre, 33, of Santa Paula, pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm during the robbery that occurred October 21, 2010. On that date Aguirre and another man robbed a Bank of America branch in Dodge City.
The other robber jumped over the teller’s counter and took the money while Aguirre held customers and employees at gunpoint. Both robbers fled the bank on foot.
The following day, investigators confronted Aguirre at a residence in Dodge City and he attempted to flee by climbing through a window in a back bedroom and scale a backyard fence. Aguirre was spotted by officers and ordered to surrender, but instead he attempted to run back to the house.
Before he could enter the residence he was shot by police officers, who recovered a .45 caliber handgun that looked like the firearm brandished in the robbery. Aguirre was severely injured in the shooting and was transferred to a South Carolina medical prison facility for treatment of his wounds and rehabilitation.
Aguirre was a documented area gang member whose partner in the bank robbery was a 17-year-old boy. The pair’s getaway driver was a 15-year-old boy.
At one point his sister was also arrested on charges that she arranged for Aguirre’s hideout - across the street from her own home - knowing that he would intimidate the family into letting him stay at the house. Everyone believed to have taken part in the robbery or the aftermath was arrested, including two female juveniles facing charges they aided and abetted felons and obstructed official duties of a peace officer.
Aguirre’s sentence means he will spend a minimum of 12 years behind bars.
