Oregon Man Pleads Guilty to Armed Bank Robbery of Premier West Bank in Siskiyou County

SACRAMENTO, Calif.-Acting United States Attorney Lawrence G. Brown announced today that EDWARD JAY SILVA, 31, of Medford, Ore., pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge Frank C. Damrell, Jr. to armed bank robbery of the Premier West Bank in Siskiyou County, Calif.

This case is the product of a joint investigation by the FBI, Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department, Medford Police Department, and Jackson County, Oregon, Sheriff’s Department.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Stegman, who prosecuted the case, in addition to the robbery of the Premier West Bank, the defendant was responsible for a number of other robberies, most of which he committed in Oregon. On January 17, 2008, SILVA was sentenced in United States District Court in Oregon for the armed robbery of a Washington Mutual Bank in Gold Hill, Ore., to serve 25 years in federal prison. Then on April 4, 2008, SILVA was sentenced in Oregon state court for three additional robberies to serve an additional 70 months in Oregon state prison.

Today, SILVA pleaded guilty to the July 14, 2005, armed bank robbery of the Premier West Bank in Siskiyou County. On that date, at about 11:15 a.m., SILVA and a co-defendant, THOMAS RAY TAYLOR, 36, of Medford, Ore., entered the Premier West Bank wearing dark clothes, white gloves, and white masks. SILVA brandished a black pellet gun that resembled a 9mm handgun. One or both of them yelled, “This is a bank robbery.” SILVA remained in the lobby demanding currency from the tellers while TAYLOR vaulted the teller window and took two tellers to the bank vault. Once in the vault, TAYLOR ordered the tellers to put 20s, 50s, and one-hundred-dollar bills into his bag. All bank employees were then ordered into the vault. Taylor attempted to lock the vault but could not get the door to shut. SILVA and TAYLOR then left the bank with $61,660.

TAYLOR previously pleaded guilty to the Premier West Bank robbery and was sentenced on October 16, 2008, in United States District Court in Oregon to 120 months in federal prison.
SILVA’s sentence as caculated under the sentencing guidelines will be enhanced due to the fact that he is a career offender, that is, he has been previously convicted of at least three prior crimes of violence, including three residential burlaries, in Jackson County, Ore.

The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Damrell on April 13, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the defendant shall be sentenced to 188 months in prison. That sentence will be part concurrent and part consecutive to the sentences received in Oregon. Under the terms of the plea agreement in this case, the total of all three prison sentences imposted on SILVA will be 32 years and 10 months.