Westminster : Man Gets 5 Years for Role as Holdup Lookout
- Share via
A Westminster man was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday for his role as a lookout for two bandits who took 13 bank employees hostage in an aborted Costa Mesa robbery last summer.
In handing down the sentence in Los Angeles federal court, Judge Harry Hupp said he would have given Roger Lee Frazier a much longer term if he had been convinced Frazier had helped plan the holdup “earlier than the evening before.”
Although one of the hostages had testified that she saw Frazier watching her home a week before the July 19 robbery, Hupp said he was not certain that she had positively identified Frazier.
The two convicted bandits were sentenced Monday; Stanley Lake received a 30-year sentence, while his half-brother, Alan Alexander got 20 years. The pair, dressed as security guards, had been let inside the Bank of America branch by a cleaning crew and then seized employees as they arrived for work.
Lake and Alexander surrendered after police surrounded the bank, while Frazier was found hiding in a stolen van in the parking lot.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
