LOS ANGELES – A man has been sentenced here for a string of robberies against credit unions—including two CU robberies he committed while out on bond awaiting trial on federal bank robbery charges.
Trayvon McNutt, 33, of the Broadway-Manchester neighborhood of South Los Angeles, was sentenced by United States District Judge André Birotte, Jr. to 63 months in federal prison for the robberies also ordered to pay $24,930 in restitution to the victim credit unions.
McNutt pleaded guilty on August 30 to six counts of bank robbery and attempted bank robbery.
On six separate occasions between June and September 2018, McNutt walked into local credit unions, approached a teller and presented a note demanding money, according to prosecutors.
According to the Justice Department, several of the notes stated, “I have a gun” and “I am armed.” During a July 17, 2018 robbery of a California Credit Union in Carson, McNutt passed the teller a note that read, “This is a robbery. I am armed. Give me your cash or someone will get shot.”
The victim institutions were located in the California cities of Lynwood, Gardena, Carson, Torrance and Hawthorne. On two separate occasions, McNutt returned to credit unions in Gardena and Carson that he previously robbed, and he robbed them again, the DoJ said.
Bait Bills Found
In October 2018, law enforcement arrested McNutt on a federal criminal complaint alleging bank robbery, and a federal grand jury indicted him during the following month. A search warrant executed at McNutt’s residence resulted in the seizure of bait bills.
While he was out on bond in this bank robbery case, McNutt – this time, unlike the previous robberies, wearing a long dreadlocks hairstyle wig – robbed two additional credit unions in Hawthorne during a five-day span in May 2019, according to the DoJ. Later that month, McNutt again was arrested and has been in federal custody since that time, the DoJ said.
In total, McNutt collected $24,930 in cash from the robberies, of which $2,115 was collected while he was awaiting trial.