By David Amoruso
Ask any criminal and they will tell you: robbing stores and banks is a risky endeavor that requires planning, discipline, and balls of steel to pull off successfully. More often than not, this crime will earn you a long prison sentence after your first job. Sometimes, you’ll be successful enough to earn a nickname. Like the “Cowboy Gun Bandits,” who will spend the next few decades behind bars.
The “Cowboy Gun Bandits” are 51-year-old Dominic Dorsey and 74-year-old Reginald Bailey, both residing in Los Angeles, California. The men were given their nickname by the FBI because they used a large-caliber revolver during a series of robberies that targeted gas station convenience stores and a bank.
Many of the robberies were captured by video surveillance, which allowed investigators to determine that one of the robbers was missing part of his ring finger on his left hand. The video evidence helped lead authorities to Bailey, whose left hand is missing a portion of his ring finger.
After a trial in July of 2016, a federal jury found Dorsey and Bailey guilty of 11 felony counts and specifically found that Dorsey and Bailey committed five robberies:
- a September 24, 2013, robbery at a Shell gas station in Woodland Hills;
- an October 6, 2013, robbery at an ARCO gas station in Newhall;
- an October 18, 2013, robbery at a Chevron gas station in Woodland Hills;
- an October 25, 2013, robbery at an ARCO gas station in Encino; and
- a November 5, 2013, robbery of a Citibank branch in Glendale that netted more than $55,000.
In addition to these robberies, the jury heard evidence in relation to the conspiracy count that Dorsey and Bailey also committed robberies at three other gas stations in October 2013.
Prosecutors described “the violent, terroristic nature” of Dorsey and Bailey’s criminal conduct, and how they “repeatedly brandished and used a firearm to control and instill fear in innocent civilians in order to steal from them and their businesses.”
Last week, Dorsey was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison. Bailey was handed a a 35-year sentence. In addition to the prison sentences, the judge ordered both men to pay restitution totaling $58,700.
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