An Irish bank robber, one of the most prolific in recent United States history, has been sentenced to a further period in jail of nearly six years in federal for a series of heists over a few months in one California city.
Adam Lynch, 37, from north Dublin, is already serving more than five years for other robberies carried out in Colorado and Wyoming.
Dubbed the Ho Hum Bandit for his nonchalant — seemingly bored — attitude as he passed notes to tellers demanding cash, admitted to an astonishing 17 robberies in just 13 months. But law enforcement agencies have identified other crimes believed to have been carried out by Lynch.
He was arrested shortly after confessing to his then girlfriend over drinks in an Irish bar, the Fado pub, in downtown Denver.
Lynch was sentenced to 70 months in prison in federal court in San Diego yesterday, slightly less than six years.
The judge ordered that 56 of those months be served consecutively with the sentence imposed by a Denver, Colorado, court following his arrest in April 2011.
Lynch will not be released from prison until 2020, after which he is likely to be deported back to Ireland. His arrest ended a spree of robberies that began in California in February 2010 and continued in Colorado and elsewhere into March 2011.
Lynch's defence lawyer Ronald Gainor, who also represented the Irishman in court in Denver, had argued he should serve no more time than already imposed by the Colorado court.
Mr Gainor said the robberies were part of a single criminal act by a man who was mentally unstable at the time. The defence lawyer said Lynch, who previously ran a successful dog care business in northern California and lived in a $800,000 home with his now estranged wife, just wants to get back home to Dublin.
But Judge Roger Benitez disagreed and imposed a sentence in line with what prosecutors wanted.
Lynch had pleaded guilty to seven robberies in San Diego carried out by “force, violence and intimidation”, though it’s admitted he was never armed, simply passing a note claiming he had a gun and demanding the money. He was even escribed as quite polite.
The first of his two sprees began in February 2010 with the robbery of $2,468 from a US Bank close to the centre of San Diego. His largest haul was just over $8,000 from a Citibank on Herschel Avenue on April 8th. Lynch returned on May 8th to the very same bank and bagged a further $5,450. In total, Lynch stole some $25,000 from the seven banks in San Diego.
He met his girlfriend Julia Lundstrom in San Diego. According to investigators, Lynch was extravagant with his money, taking her on a round the world trip that included stops in Egypt and to Ireland. The couple moved to Colorado, where Lynch continued his bank robbing.
He pleaded guilty to four robberies, three in Colorado and one in Wyoming but agreed to pay restitution to six other banks. The relationship soured and in April 2011, over drinks at the Fado Irish Bar in downtown Denver, Lynch confessed he was the Ho Hum Bandit.
Ms Lundstrom phoned the police and Lynch was arrested almost immediately. The Irishman claimed in court documents he knew his then ex-girlfriend would inform the authorities.