Sacramento Woman Gets 22 Months in Prison for Bank Robbery Committed at Age 19

SACRAMENTO, CA—United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that United States District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. sentenced Yuliya Stepanisko, 21, of Sacramento, yesterday afternoon to 22 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release for bank robbery. She was ordered to pay $1,740 in restitution.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Sacramento Violent Crimes Task force, which includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rodriguez prosecuted the case.

According to court documents, on October 17, 2008, Stepanisko robbed the Washington Mutual Bank on 5801 Sunrise Blvd. in Citrus Heights. Stepanisko used a note to rob the bank, demanding money and warning the teller not to give her tracking devices or to summon police. Stepanisko surrendered to law enforcement later that day claiming unidentified men forced her to commit the robbery. Stepanisko later retracted her claim that men forced her to commit the robbery and confessed to robbing the bank. She pleaded guilty on November 30, 2009, to commission of the bank robbery and to a single count of lying to federal agents.

Stepanisko was ordered to surrender herself on August 6, 2010, to the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons for service of her sentence.