By R. Scott Moxley
Vincent Edward Cantu--a former
California police officer turned serial, armed bank robber--is now living in
federal prison, but he is making a demand: He wants the FBI to return $3,000
agents confiscated from one of his jacket's during a pre-conviction search of
his Whittier residence.
It's an unusually bold move
given that Cantu has only paid $100 in restitution on the more than $37,000 he
stole during in a three-year crime spree.
The onetime Pasadena Police
Department cop recently told U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney that
the confiscated funds were part of a loan from his mother-in-law prior to his
arrest and that his family is enduring severe financial hardships with him
incarcerated in a Fort Worth, Texas prison until the end of May 2020.
Cantu's Los Angeles-based
defense attorney is also arguing that federal officials are obligated to return
the cash because it's unrelated to the robberies.
But Assistant United States
Attorney Christine S. Bautista is opposing the motion, claiming FBI agents
believe the $3,000 originated from a June 2008 robbery of Pacific Mercantile
Bank.
Bautista says the government is
willing to part with the money if the FBI is allowed to convert the cash into a
check directed to help pay outstanding restitution.
Carney scheduled an April 21
hearing inside Orange County's Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse to decide the
dispute.
Cantu--who was labeled the
"Polite Bandit" by law enforcement because he apologized to the bank
tellers while he terrorized them--admitted guilt after his arrest, cited
depression and alcohol abuse as an explanation for his crimes, and hoped for a
lenient punishment heavy on counseling and light on prison time.
But in Nov. 2009, Carney
sentenced him to a term of 162 months and, in 2012, rejected the bandit's
request to overturn his conviction.