Crime & Safety

7 Months in Jail for Corte Madera Bank Incident

Anthony Lee also given 3 years probation for March hostage situation at Bank of America.

A Corte Madera man has been sentenced to seven months in jail for holding Bank of America customers hostage earlier this year.

Anthony Lee, 21, entered a guily plea in April for a six-hour standoff on March 14, 2011. Lee entered the guilty plea to felony charges of commercial burglary and false imprisonment. Lee also entered guilty please to misdemeanor charges of displaying a firearm and false imprisonment.

Prosecutors in April said they believed Lee would end up with probation, but he was sentenced Wednesday morning to jail time in addition to three years probation.

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There were eight or nine people in the bank at 663 Tamalpais Drive when Lee entered around 4:20 p.m., said deputy district attorney Tom Brown. Lee released the people in the bank and locked himself inside, Twin Cities police said.

A Tiburon man briefly held hostage during the incident said Lee never tried to harm anyone inside the bank.

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D.J. Tilton said he was about two minutes away from finishing his banking transaction at about 4:20 p.m. when a man, later identified as Lee, entered and began waving a gun in the air.

Tilton said the gunman seemed nervous and was not aiming the gun at anyone inside the bank.

"He was criticizing international banking systems," said Tilton. "He said banks are corrupt and those who control them are criminals."

The gunman told bank customers they could finish their transactions and leave if they wanted to, Tilton said, and one woman did just that. The gunman brought water along with him and offered some to the nine remaining hostages.

Tilton said everyone was released after less than 10 minutes.

Lee was apparently upset about financial issues he is having, according to police on the scne at the time of the incident in March. Twin Cities Police Chief Todd Cusimano said during the standoff that Lee wanted to write a letter to the CEO of Bank of America before he came out. Lee was able to fax off his letter before surrendering to law enforcement.

The numerous false imprisonment charges Lee faced were reduced to one felony and one misdemeanor false imprisonment charge, Brown said in April.

Lee faced a maximum of four years and eight months in prison on the charges plus the firearm allegation.

Nicole Ely of San Rafael Patch and Bay City News Service contributed to this report.


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