Crime & Safety

Beverly Hills Bank Robber Gets 8 Years for $500 Heist

It was Andy Lee "Audy" Horn's third conviction for bank robbery since 1991.

A 50-year-old man who robbed a Beverly Hills bank of about $500 using a cigarette lighter shaped as a gun was sentenced today to eight years in prison after admitting that his HIV infection did not excuse the crime.

Andy Lee "Audy" Horn had pleaded guilty to one of three counts of armed robbery at a City National Bank in downtown Los Angeles and two Bank of America locations in Beverly Hills.

In the plea agreement, he said that on March 6, 2013, he pointed the cigarette lighter at a teller at the BofA branch on North Beverly Drive and said, "Give me money, $50s, $20s, $100s."

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U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin noted at the sentencing that Horn's drug addiction appeared to be the reason for the robberies and that the case was actually the defendant's third conviction for bank robbery since 1991.

"I'm here today to accept your sentence," Horn told the judge, adding that he has been HIV-positive for years.

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But Horn, of Los Angeles, said his health issues are "no excuse. It doesn't give me the the right to do what I did."

According to the plea agreement, the teller at the BofA branch "believed that he saw the metal barrel of a gun in defendant's hand" and, fearing for his safety, handed Horn about $500.

"Defendant took the money from the teller's hands and exited the bank," the agreement said.

As part of the deal, the counts relating to the City National heist and the other BofA robbery were dismissed.

--City News Service


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