A 28-year-old Salida man who robbed two Denver area banks in January and was involved in a standoff in Lakewood has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
Patrick Alan McCuaig was sentenced Tuesday by Senior U.S. District Court Judge John Kane for the robbery of the U.S. Bank, 3100 S. Sheridan Boulevard, on Jan. 15 and the TCF Bank, 9600 N. Washington St., Thornton, on Jan. 21.
McCuaig was given $2,478 at the U.S. Bank after he passed a note to a teller saying he had a bomb and gun.
At the TCF Bank, McCuaig took $4,534 after he passed a note to a teller saying he had a bomb and would use it.
Just prior to the TCF robbery, he had gone to a nearby Conoco station where he put gas in his car and left without paying.
Witnesses to both bank robberies were able to give authorities a description of McCuaig’s get-away car, a 1984 Honda Accord.
Federal officials said that they don’t believe McCuaig had a bomb during either robbery.
The standoff occurred on Jan. 24, after Lakewood officers spotted a mobile home towing a car at the intersection of West 20th Avenue and Kipling Street and immediately recognized the 1984 Honda Accord.
McCuaig was arrested after a struggle but his girlfriend, Jessica Garrett, 25, remained in the mobile home.
She initially refused to leave and when she appeared to point a gun at officers, she was shot in her upper left arm.
Garrett continued to stay in the home and after an extended stand-off lasting about five hours, she eventually gave up.
Garrett was prosecuted by the Jefferson County district attorney’s office for felony menacing.
On June 9, 2008, she was sentenced to four years in prison.
Numerous agencies were involved in the standoff, including the Jefferson County Sheriff’s SWAT team.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Rocky Mountain Safe Street Task Force, and both the Lakewood and Denver Police Departments.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
