At Odds With an Image

Captain of the Rowland High School cheerleading squad, honors student and senior class “teacher’s pet�--who would have imagined Elizabeth Hernandez Maddex charged with robbing a bank?

Not Amy Heinlein, who’s known Liz since junior high, and thinks “temporary insanity� is the only viable explanation if what the FBI charges is true: that her best friend, in dark ski mask, held up a Fullerton Bank of America.

Not her dad who coached her all those years at softball, nor the mom who made all of her formal gowns--and matching earrings--for school dances.

Maddex herself seems stunned. At 19, she sits handcuffed in the U.S. marshal’s Santa Ana holding cell. After pleading not guilty to a felony, she speaks not of her alleged crime but of her character.

“My mom always said, ‘If you want something done right, do it yourself,’ � Maddex says. “Now, I’m gonna miss out on a lot.�

That a young woman with promise would, as federal authorities allege, jeopardize her future by robbing a bank is only part of the mystery. Because if the charges are true, Elizabeth Hernandez Maddex, 19, was not risking just her own life.

She was six months pregnant the day she and her teenage husband and a friend allegedly stole $15,000 from the B of A.

Witnesses said two masked men pointed guns at people and screamed out commands; a masked female who seemed to know her way around demanded specific keys to mini-vaults.

Maddex, whose baby is due May 26, will not discuss the crimes for which a federal grand jury indicted her and for which she will go on trial in July.

Authorities say that Maddex, upon her arrest Feb. 28, confessed to the robbery at the branch, where she had been a teller until her firing last year. Witnesses to the robbery, though, could not identify her or her co-defendants.

Her lawyer says police detained his client at gunpoint without advising her of her rights, and information gained as a result of that “interrogation� should be dismissed.

Maddex was released from custody after her parents secured her $50,000 bail with their house.

Her husband, Kiefer Kristian Jacob Maddex, 18, a year behind her at Rowland High, and their co-defendant, a self-employed scuba instructor and surfer named Larry Thomas Stratton Jr., 27, await trial in federal custody.

After falling in love 20 months ago in a college psychology class, Elizabeth Maddex said, she and Kiefer lurched into adulthood in the wrong order. They conceived a child as teenagers without incomes to support the life they wanted.

A police report quotes her as saying that, as a teller, she herself was robbed at the branch, was familiar with what robbers do “and how many of them get away.�

Now Maddex, an aspiring English teacher, finds herself facing the delivery of her baby this month and the start of her trial soon after.

“We were struggling,� Maddex says of herself and her husband during an interview at her parents’ West Covina home.

“We wanted a better life for ourselves. I think we wanted to grow up too fast. Kiefer’s very proud, not wanting to take handouts too lightly. . . . We wanted to be able to say, ‘We got our daughter this, we bought our daughter this. . . .’ �

“And you couldn’t afford it,� her mother interjects from the other side of the sofa.

“We wanted to live the American Dream, at 18 and 19,� Maddex says with a sigh.

They kept lists of their mounting debts and of their chores. Between sink scouring and baby shower invites, the FBI said, one to-do list found in their apartment wastebasket also included reminders to borrow a gun and “buy ski masks.�

*

Here in the world capital of bank robbery--1,126 last year in Southern California--only about 5% of the robbers are female. Veteran FBI agents who have investigated bank robbery for a generation in this region do not recall ever hearing of a pregnant bank robber, said Special Agent Tim White, an FBI spokesman.

But then, none of the witnesses in or outside the bank reported that the female suspect was pregnant, only that she seemed to be wearing a few layers of clothing.

Reports by the Fullerton Police Department and the FBI’s criminal complaint against the suspects lay out the events investigators attribute to a cast of four arrestees: Kiefer Maddex, Stratton, his girlfriend, Shawnarie Lynn Mills, 21, of Garden Grove, and Elizabeth, soon due to deliver a daughter she’s already named Vanessa Reese.

According to witnesses, three masked intruders entered the B of A on Orangethorpe Avenue just before 10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 24.

One of the gunmen stood by the door, counting out time. The second gunman pointed a revolver in the face of a teller. To her and other bank personnel he yelled, “Don’t push the alarm or I’ll kill you!�

This gunman then climbed onto a counter and ordered everybody to lie face-down on the floor.

Until she spoke, nobody realized the third robber was a female--and one who appeared to know her way around the branch.

Employees noticed that the robbers took no cash from teller drawers. Not even open ones. They assumed the robbers knew to avoid “bait� money that contains exploding dye.

Dressed in a black ski mask that completely covered her face, and a sweatshirt whose hood shrouded her head, the female displayed no gun. She barked orders.

“She was jumping up and down, she seemed very hostile, like the guy with her,� one teller said in an interview.

She impressed workers and customers alike as being, in the words of one, “the brains� behind the robbery.

“Where’s the . . . COW key?!� the female robber demanded, referring to the term bank workers use for a “cash on wheels� mini-vault.

Sources say it held about $100,000 that day, but two keys were needed to open it. Witnesses told police that the robbers only managed to get one key right.

“How much?� one robber inquired of their haul.

“Not enough,� another answered.

During several tense minutes, the trio shouted at each other to hurry up. The men pointed guns at people. One of the robbers swore frantically at bank workers and accused them of tripping a silent alarm.

As it turned out, that alarm was on the fritz.

From a back room not visible to the robbers, a repairman who’d been working with a partner on the automated teller machinery heard a commotion. He inched over to a door, cracked it open and peered out to see the ski-masked gunmen. He had the other repairman dial 911 and report a hold-up in progress. Next door at an auto parts store, someone else also phoned police.

The trio of robbers soon bolted. As they ran through the parking lot, one of the men dropped a trail of cash bundles before the robbers scrambled into their getaway car, witnesses said. The female robber was behind the wheel.

Twenty-three witnesses were interviewed by authorities. None were able to give police identifying descriptions of the robbers. One of the males had blond or light brown hair. The female had longer brown hair, reported another. One robber had a goatee.

But the fact that the female robber threw around bank branch lingo narrowed the field of potential suspects. Fullerton Police Det. Linda King asked employees if a former staffer fit the female’s description. One teller came up with “Liz.�

A corporate security vice president for B of A told police that Elizabeth Hernandez had been fired in 1996 under suspicion of embezzlement. Neither she or her attorney would comment on the accusation. One co-worker who was fond of Liz said she was confronted about “being short,� was called into the manager’s office and fired. The bank teller said such a thing would only happen if the cash loss was $500 or more.

A witness outside the bank caught three digits off a possible getaway car, described as a silver car, possibly a Toyota Camry or Tercel. Two of the digits matched the plate of the car that bank records showed belonged to Elizabeth Hernandez.

Within an hour, a motor officer spotted a similar car getting onto the Riverside Freeway and pulled it over.

At gunpoint, Elizabeth was ordered out of the car and questioned about her whereabouts that morning, her name, address and where she was headed. “Disneyland,� she told police. She was to meet her husband and two friends--Mills and Stratton, as it turns out--at a Denny’s across from the Magic Kingdom.

During the police stop, she gave her married name, her husband’s name, and their new address--so new she had not yet gone to the Department of Motor Vehicles to report the change.

Had Maddex not felt fearful and, with guns pointed at her, as if she were under arrest, she might not have divulged such information, says her attorney, William Dougherty, a former assistant U.S. attorney.

He argues that charges should be dismissed because they are based on evidence gained from a “detained� client who was not read her Miranda rights.

While she was being questioned by police in the back seat of a squad car during that stop, a witness who saw the fleeing robbers was driven by to make a possible identification. The witness did not recognize Maddex, and she was released.

With the Maddexes’ new address, Fullerton police were able to obtain a search warrant for their Rowland Heights apartment. Four days later, on Friday, officers arrived at the two-bedroom apartment, where Kiefer Maddex was alone.

Among items found in the couple’s apartment, the FBI says in its criminal complaint, was a to-do list. Between chores such as “scrub sinks and toilets� and “shower invitations� were “buy ski masks,� “plan escape route� and what authorities say is a gun reference, “borrow gat.�

Kiefer Maddex was arrested on the spot. Elizabeth Maddex was arrested about 3 p.m. as she returned from lunch to her El Monte work site: Wells Fargo Bank’s 24-hour customer service hive. She worked full time as an “express teller,� mostly helping people by phone. (Her husband worked part time there doing data entry).

Before she arrived at the Fullerton police station, officers allege, Elizabeth Maddex confessed. Once there, they say, she spilled the details from start to finish.

Police say that when he was told of this, Kiefer Maddex waived his right to have an attorney present and divulged his version of events.

According to police reports, the couple told detectives that the $3,780 balance of their share in the robbery take was buried in their tiny apartment yard, where police say they found it in a hole under the air conditioner.

Both Maddexes implicated co-defendant Stratton. Kiefer told them that it was Stratton’s idea to count off time inside the bank and to not attempt entry to a vault. They were ideas, Kiefer Maddex said, that Stratton got from the Patrick Swayze/Keanu Reeves surfer-bank robber movie, “Point Break.�

*

Police found Stratton and Mills at the Newport Beach Inn, a roadside stucco motel, and arrested them on suspicion of bank robbery.

In their room, according to police reports, were receipts--among them one for $92 spent on toiletries, Mountain Dew, Pop-Tarts and other snacks the afternoon of the holdup--and more to-do lists and bill tallies. Under the heading “To Get,� “Bomb parts� and “wig!� were listed in what police believe to be Stratton’s notebook. A list in Mills’ day planner showed payments planned for a car, insurance, parent loan, health club, beauty school tuition and “boob job--$4,000.�

Upon his arrest, Stratton was mum. Mills, however, answered police questions at length, allegedly admitting her role in the planning but not the execution of the robbery. She said she chickened out at the end. Federal charges were not filed against Mills because there was no evidence she was in the bank during the robbery, said Jim Spertus, the assistant U.S. attorney taking the case to trial.

Police later found Stratton’s primer-painted 1978 Jeep outside the home of Mills’ family. They say they found two keys inside: one marked ATM, the other marked COW.

Mills and the Maddexes offered the following account, according to police reports.

Elizabeth sprang the robbery idea “several months ago.� She asked Mills if she wanted in on it, and Mills said she refused. Some time later, the couple approached Stratton, who they claim agreed to participate.

Stratton met the Maddexes through his girlfriend, said his attorney, deputy federal public defender Myra Sun. She said Stratton had been a longtime employee of a phone company until it downsized, at which point he decided to try making a living at scuba diving.

Eleven days before the robbery for which they were arrested, the quartet allegedly made two failed attempts to rob the bank. The plan was to have Stratton enter in disguise, present a note demanding money, then split. The others would be nearby if he needed help.

Bank employees reported that, at 11:08 a.m. that day, a man in a charcoal gray suit, salt-and-pepper wig and face make-up did approach a teller.

But the would-be robber apparently panicked as a teller waited on him. He asked for a Mrs. Johnson, a name the manager did not recognize. Then the man in the suit hurried out.

At a bank of customer service phones, Elizabeth had actually been inside the branch all along, as “moral support,� police reports said. Mills was beside her. Both women told police that Stratton felt sure an alarm was pushed so he aborted his robbery plan, which included presenting a fake bomb. Three hours and 20 minutes later, his co-defendants told police, Stratton entered the bank again, this time in casual clothing and sans make-up, but was still unsuccessful.

The branch manager reported both incidents to police. She said she suspected the same man made both visits and was casing the bank.

The would-be robbers regrouped and decided, according to police reports, that they needed to better take command of the bank lobby, as had the “Point Break� robbers--who wore masks of U.S. Presidents Carter, Nixon, Reagan and Johnson. The movie robbers were heavily armed and usually in and out in 90 seconds, never blowing time trying to get into a vault.

On the Saturday before the B of A hold-up, the foursome scouted locations, Mills and the Maddexes told police. They checked the branch layout, watched security guards, picked where they would park and split up after the hold-up.

A drawing that police say they found in the driver door panel of Elizabeth’s car sketches out the rendezvous at Denny’s. Written alongside the drawing, “I Love you!, I love you!�

One bank teller said in an interview that there were no bullets visible in the cylinder of one robber’s revolver.

“I think that they weren’t planning on shooting anyone so they didn’t put bullets in the gun,� said the teller.

*

U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor declined last month to dismiss the robbery charge against Elizabeth Maddex.

The judge did allow a delay of the trial proceedings to allow for the birth of the Maddex child. A status conference on the case is set before Taylor on June 9.

The delay is a huge relief to Elizabeth and her family. Her parents say they are baffled and hurt by their daughter’s arrest.

Kiefer Maddex, his wife said, sees no benefit in being interviewed for this story.

“He is embarrassed, as we all are. We just cannot understand what drove them to this,� Elizabeth’s father said.

In the fall of 1995, the teens found themselves in the same class at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. They swiftly moved from across the room to side-by-side desks, Elizabeth says, recalling with he-said, she-said detail the start of their romance.

It was only a few months after they started seeing each other that Elizabeth left the employ of B of A. She said that of the eight jobs she has had, from waitress to shoe sales to bank teller, she disliked the bank teller job the most.

“It’s a lot of pressure. I didn’t like working with money,� she said. A bank spokeswoman said she could not reveal specifics about Elizabeth Hernandez’s “separation� from the bank, only that she left in January 1996.

At Mt. San Antonio, Elizabeth was taking a full load and finding college more daunting than the warm embrace of high school, where she said she maintained a 3.5 or better grade-point average and had the support of English, drama and cheerleading mentors. At the community college, “I was having a very difficult time,� she said.

In August, Elizabeth learned she was pregnant. At first she thought she would have major problems with the pregnancy but that proved not to be the case. She decided against abortion, and also ruled out adoption. Kiefer, who also goes by Kris, had been adopted, Elizabeth said, and he did not want the same for his own child.

So in November, the couple married in a civil ceremony with plans to throw a big wedding later. They moved into an apartment three miles from the home where Elizabeth grew up.

As a one-time campus aide, Elizabeth’s mother said she has seen the peer pressure kids face to have the right clothes and things.

“We had that kind of pressure,� Elizabeth says. “We had me, Kris and Vanessa to worry about. Good schools. He wanted to go to flight school, which is very expensive. We had very little support from his family. These are the types of people who want you to learn by your own mistakes, learn the hard way.�

Kiefer’s parents said they would rather not comment.

On the Friday before the Monday morning B of A robbery, the newlyweds were down to $69 in their checking account with some big bills overdue, according to copies of a checkbook registry and other receipts and documents seized by Fullerton police from the couple’s apartment.

The couple had monthly income of about $1,500. Rent on their two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in a woodsy complex across from Puente Hills Mall was $950.

In the hours and days after the B of A holdup, Mills told police that she and Stratton had gone shopping, spending about $1,000. The Maddexes made several hefty bill payments. Receipts from their apartment reveal purchases of clothes from Old Navy, and maternity undergarments and nursing bras at Sears. A discount coupon was used for a haircut that cost $9.95.

*

With her Breck-girl hair and his “baby face,� as one police report described him, the Maddexes look more like a couple bound for a prom than for prison.

During their first court appearance, shackled side by side, the teens smooched and leaned on each other’s shoulders.

But prosecutors say that the B of A robbery was an elaborately planned crime by people who persisted when at first they did not succeed. And Elizabeth, they said, was the mastermind.

“This particular defendant planned the bank robbery. . . . Certainly she did not have any concern for her[self] or her infant,� Assistant U.S. Atty. Linda Acuna told a judge in arguing that Elizabeth Maddex remain in custody. “This was a violent offense.�

Elizabeth’s family is standing by her, her father said, and believes “if she did wrong, the court will find out.�

If convicted, Elizabeth and her husband could be sentenced to as much as eight years in prison; a minimum of 3 1/2.

Elizabeth Maddex says it is her baby who would be punished by being kept from her mother. She says that if a jury convicts her, she hopes she would be sentenced to an out-of-state “halfway house� for felons with children.

“[Vanessa’s] gonna get a lot of love either way,� Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth’s parents are prepared to be guardians if necessary. A frilly white bassinet is planted in the living room, awaiting arrival of their first grandchild.

“If you take away what’s most important to me--my husband, my child, my family--that’s just too much for me,� Elizabeth said of the prospect she could be sent to federal prison if convicted.

“I don’t know what I did wrong to deserve this.�