The serial bank robber police dubbed the No Face Bandit was
arraigned Tuesday on amended charges that could double his maximum
prison sentence.
The serial bank robber police dubbed the No Face Bandit was arraigned Tuesday on amended charges that could double his maximum prison sentence.
Peter Klein, 49, now faces a total of 27 felony counts of false imprisonment, possession of stolen property and robbery stemming from a two-year spree of 11 bank robberies in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties – including four Gilroy banks. Klein’s charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 27 years and four months.
Klein was originally charged earlier this month with the March 2009 robbery of Chase Bank in Gilroy – after which he was captured by police in a matter of minutes – and a March 2008 robbery of the Gilroy Bank of the West. Deputy District Attorney Cindy Hendrickson tacked additional charges onto the complaint after factoring in five other Santa Clara County bank robberies in Los Gatos, Saratoga and Gilroy. Klein is also a suspect in four other robberies in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.
Deputy Public Defender Louella Tsai, who is representing Klein, did not immediately return a phone call.
Gilroy police arrested Klein on March 27 after he robbed the Chase Bank on First Street at gunpoint and stole $35,000. During the robbery, Klein – his face concealed by his signature attire of dark glasses, nylon stockings and a baseball cap – ordered at least 10 bank employees and customers to the ground, threatening to shoot the tellers if they didn’t hurry, according to Hendrickson.
Alerted by a Chase customer who called police after he walked up to the bank and saw tellers with their hands up, police tracked down Klein, who fled in an SUV.
Klein stole about $400,000 from various banks over the last two years, his schemes becoming more and more brazen as they went on, Hendrickson said. Though police believe Klein used a replica gun to pull off his last heist, Hendrickson said it looked so real the victims had no idea it wasn’t.
“They thought they were going to die,” she told Superior Court Judge Hector Ramon, who granted Hendrickson’s request to set Klein’s bail at $5 million at an April 2 hearing. “There’s at least one teller who won’t go back, she was so terrorized. If he got out, he’d be a huge risk and would probably flee. The defendant poses a huge danger to society.”
Sgt. Ken Binder of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office described Klein’s crimes as “heartless,” citing a robbery where Klein waved his gun in an 89-year-old man’s face.
“The more (robberies) he did, the more and more bold he became,” Binder said.
Though police were not able to locate the stolen money, Hendrickson said Klein’s home contained “very nice possessions.”
Klein’s wife of 28 years told authorities that Klein lost his job as vice president of Monterey Pasta Company about two years ago, and she believed he had been working part-time since then, prosecutors said. Just prior to his March arrest, Klein told his wife that he had just received a well-paying “consulting job.” The couple had plans to travel to China the week after his arrest.
Klein’s plea hearing was continued to 1:30 p.m. May 5 at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill.
