California Bitcoin Bandit Is Facing 10 Years For Crypto Armed Robbery

California Bitcoin Bandit, or more specifically a woman from East Hollywood in California, has been convicted of robbery relating to the peer-to-peer bitcoin trades. Lanay Fitzgerald was one of the two people involved in incidents that earned them the moniker ‘discount bitcoin bandits’ as we previously reported in the Bitcoin news.

The 29-year old could face a prison sentence up to 10 years for the crypto robbery and getting the maximum possible sentence is mainly because she used a firearm when carrying out the robberies.  The one California Bitcoin Bandit negotiated an agreement and submitted a plea of no contest to the charges relating to five 2017-2018 robberies. According to reports, Fitzgerald and her accomplice the 23-year old Lawillie Joshua Hall arranged to meet prospective Bitcoin buyers at the height of the 2017 bull market.

Both of them robbed the victims and sometimes even used a gun and never handed over any Bitcoin. Hall also entered a plea of no contest at an earlier hearing in April for his role in the two robberies. The District Attorney’s office spokesman Paul Eakins commented:

 “From October 2017 through February 2018, Fitzgerald stole money from five people by using online notices and communications advertising the sale of discount bitcoins, according to court testimony.. She met the victims in person and forcefully took the cash they had brought to purchase the cryptocurrency.”

Although they were originally charged with numerous other offenses, the court allowed them both to enter a plea of no contest against a single count of second-degree robbery and then dropped two additional charges against the California Bitcoin Bandit Fitzgerald on two counts of grand theft as well as three counts of child abuse which relates to the time she brought a child along during some of the robberies.

Hall is expected to receive up to four years for his involvement and Fitzgerald could earn up to 10 years in prison. Both sentences have been increased since the defendants also pleaded no contest to using a firearm during the robberies. As the situation proposes, Hall will be sentenced on December 17 and will receive four years and a fine of $30,000 in restitution while Fitzgerald will have to serve 10 years in prison and $85,000 in restitution payments.