OC's Triple Threat Bank Bandit Pleads Guilty

Pettis: He could have had a V8.

Serial bandit Joe Pettis III got into an August 19, 2011, dispute with his daughter and decided that the answer to his frustration was a bank robbery spree that ended after a televised car chase and him lying on the highway with a couple dozen CHP weapons pointed at his head.

Armed only with a handwritten note stating, "Give me all of your 100 and 50 only now," Pettis robbed the Orange County Credit Union in Fullerton, the Union Yes Credit Union in Orange, and finally a U.S. Bank in Buena Park.

Here's my question: Was it worth it to the man dubbed the "Triple Threat Bandit" by the FBI?

Pettis, who is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Liskamm and this month changed his plea to guilty, stole just $5,622 during the heists.

Now, he faces a maximum prison term of 60 years plus a $750,000 fine and full restitution of the loot.

U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter scheduled a September 10 sentencing date.

FBI

Pettis: This will teach my daughter.

After the third robbery, law enforcement found Pettis fleeing in an SUV on a Southern California highway and watched him toss the loot and the demand note out of the window. The incident won widespread television coverage.

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