Two men who robbed an Arvada bank using an AK-47 assault rifle were each sentenced Friday to 22 years in prison.
Yimi Guillermo Roach-Rodriguez, 21, of Denver, and Daniel DeLao, 23, of Arvada, were sentenced by District Judge Jane Tidball.
Kristen Catlin, 25, was a manager at the bank, and the assault rifle used in the robbery was pointed directly at her head.
“It was terrifying,” Catlin recalled in a hallway outside the courtroom after the two men were sentenced. “I was wondering if I was going to die.”
Since the Nov. 3, 2006, robbery, Catlin has given up her banking career because of fears she couldn’t shake.
“I still haven’t been able to go back into that bank,” she said, adding that most banks still make her nervous.
Still, in court she told the robbers she forgives them and hopes they can turn their lives around.
“I’m not going to continue to be a victim,” Catlin said. “I’m not going to harbor anger.”
Police caught the men in part because of a daring 40-year-oldcq mother of three.
The woman was at Target near the bank on the day of the robbery and saw two men dressed in black enter the bank with assault rifles, said Pam Russell,cq spokeswoman for the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.
The woman, whose name was withheld, called 911.
She then drove into the bank parking lot to the drive-through window to see if she could see the tellers, while staying on the phone with the 911 operator, Russell said.
She then watched the two men come out of the bank and return to their car. She followed them as they left the parking lot, Russell said.
The witness followed the getaway car, providing information to police until the bank robbers realized they were being followed and managed to lose her by running a red light, she said.
The suspects were later arrested.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
