Robber gets 5 years in prison
Had role in conspiracy to steal $314,000 from bank
customer

By LARRY PARSONS
Herald Staff Writer
Monterey County Herald
Article Last Updated:07/26/2007 01:30:05 AM PDT

The second of three suspects accused of conspiring to rob more than $300,000 from a Salinas bank customer in an inside job has been sentenced to prison.
Jose Lito Campos, 28, of Salinas received a 5½-year sentence Monday from U.S. District Court Judge Ronald M. Whyte in San Jose after pleading guilty to robbery and unrelated drug charges.

A third suspect, Jorge Lopez, remains in custody awaiting trial and is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 5.

Authorities said Lopez's girlfriend, Christina Marie Flores, was working as a customer service manager for Community Bank, now Rabobank, in downtown Salinas in April 2004 when she tipped the robbers to one of her customers.

The customer, the owner of a Salinas convenience and check-cashing store, had just withdrawn about $314,000 in cash and was assaulted and robbed before getting to the store in a heist set up by Flores and the others.

Robber Jose Ramon Romero pleaded no contest in Monterey County courts in June 2005 and was sentenced to two years in prison and then deported to Mexico as an illegal immigrant.

Lopez, 36, was caught in June in Salinas after eluding arrest for a long time.

Flores, 31, was sentenced in June to two years in prison. She admitted telling Lopez about her customer's large cash withdrawal, setting the robbery scheme in motion.

The link between the suspects was discovered by a local district attorney's investigator who traced Romero's phone records and learned that Lopez and Flores made lavish purchases after the robbery.

Campos admitted that he acted as a look-out during the robbery.

The cases stemmed from investigations by the District Attorney's Office, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.


Larry Parsons can be reached at 646-4379 or lparsons@montereyherald.com.

http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_6467003