Trial Set in L.A.’s Biggest Bank Heist

A federal court judge set a trial date Monday for a man accused of robbing nine San Fernando Valley banks of nearly $1 million, including carrying out the biggest bank robbery in Los Angeles history.

Gilbert Michaels, 48, is scheduled to stand trial March 8, in U. S. District Court in Los Angeles. A grand jury indicted Michaels and co-defendant James Ambrose McGrath on 18 counts of bank robbery and firearms violations.

A federal court jury in October found McGrath guilty on all counts. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 20 and could receive a maximum 225 years in prison on the robbery charges and 165 years for the weapons violations.

Prosecutors tried McGrath separately because Michaels was found mentally incompetent to stand trial in March. However, a psychiatrist recently found Michaels to be competent, Assistant U. S. Atty. Christopher Tayback said.

An attorney for Michaels has said he will present an insanity defense, Tayback said. A government psychiatrist will now evaluate Michaels in an attempt to determine whether he was sane at the time of the robberies.

The FBI captured the two men in March, 1992, after the robbery of a Home Savings of America branch in Woodland Hills. Both men were also charged with robbing a Tarzana bank of $430,000, the largest amount ever taken in a Los Angeles bank robbery.

McGrath is the author of a 300-page document that states that both men believe that a massive conspiracy systematically worked to destroy Michael’s fudge business.