A federal judge has sentenced a man found guilty of robbing two banks in the space of a week to 7½ years in prison.
Senior U.S. District Judge John Kane sentenced Patrick Alan McCuaig, 28, who pleaded guilty to bank robbery in August, to 92 months in prison on Tuesday.
According to McCuaig’s plea agreement, he handed a U.S. Bank teller a note saying that he had a bomb and gun on Jan. 15. He left the bank at 3100 S. Sheridan Blvd. with $2,478.
On Jan. 21, he used a similar note to rob a TCF Bank at 9660 N. Washington St. in Thornton, getting away with $4,534.90.
Authorities don’t believe he had a bomb during either robbery.
“He had a pellet gun, and when you looked at the gun, you fully expected it was a real gun,” said Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver.
Witnesses to both bank robberies were able to give authorities a description of McCuaig’s getaway car, a 1984 Honda Accord.
Lakewood police took him into custody three days later after a struggle. His girlfriend, Jessica Garrett, was shot in the upper arm after pointing a pellet gun at an officer who believed it was a deadly weapon.
She was sentenced to four years for felony menacing by a Jefferson County Court judge.
“Bank robbery can trigger all kinds of unintended consequences, including hard time in federal prison,” said U.S. Attorney for Colorado Troy Eid.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
