Berkeley Man Sentenced to Prison for Alameda Bank Robbery

Two East Bay men have been sentenced to federal prison terms for robbing a bank in Alameda last August, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Thursday sentenced 28-year-old Craig Goatley of Oakland to 6 1/2 years in prison and last week she sentenced Calvin Odom, 25, of Berkeley to 7 years and 2 months.
 
Prosecutors said Goatley and Odom pleaded guilty in January to robbing the Citibank branch at 1526 Webster St. of $8,869 in cash last August 3. They said Goatley arrived at a teller window after waiting in line, pulled out what appeared to be a handgun, demanded money and took cash from two tellers.
 
Prosecutors said Odom, who had been talking with a bank employee while posing as a customer, took out what appeared to be a gun and told the employee not to move.
 
The two men then fled the bank with $8,869 in cash, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. It was later discovered that the weapons that Goatley and Odom brandished actually were pellet guns, prosecutors said.
 
The two men were arrested by Alameda County Sheriff's deputies 11 days after the bank robbery and appeared in federal court on the bank robbery charges in November.
 
The prosecution of Goatley and Odom resulted from an investigation by Alameda police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

—By Bay City News