San Francisco Man Pleads Guilty to Robbing Nine Banks

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—James Michael Burge pleaded guilty today to nine counts of unarmed bank robbery, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced.

In pleading guilty, Burge admitted to robbing nine federally-insured banks in San Francisco between November 2007 and March 2008 of a total amount of $30,941.00. Burge used notes to demand money from bank tellers and told them that he had a gun, although he was unarmed.   

Burge, 52, of San Francisco , was indicted by a federal Grand Jury on November 18. He was charged with nine counts of unarmed bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a). Burge pled guilty to all counts without a plea agreement.  

The sentencing of Burge is scheduled for June 29 before Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in San Francisco . The maximum statutory penalty for each count in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) is 20 years and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Owen Martikan is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of legal assistant Marina Ponomarchuk. The prosecution is the result of a four-month investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Further Information:

Case # CR08-0830 MHP

A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.

Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

Judges' calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court's website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.