UPDATED: 'Drifter Bandit' Gets 30 Years for Robbing Two SJC Banks, Others

The so-called "," who robbed four banks in south Orange County last year, including two in San Juan Capistrano, pleaded guilty Wednesday and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Michael David Marano, 46, of Santa Ana, accepted a plea bargain from Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert Fitzgerald.

Marano pleaded guilty to four counts each of second-degree robbery and second-degree commercial burglary and admitted to sentencing enhancements for using a firearm, according to court records.

According to prosecutors, Marano robbed:

• A  branch at 31972 Camino Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano
• A US Bank branch at 33621 Del Obispo St. in Dana Point on May 26 last year
• A  branch at 31873 Del Obispo St. in San Juan Capistrano
• A Citibank branch at 30311 Golden Lantern in Laguna Niguel on July 5 last year

Marano took more than $30,000 in the four bank robberies, according to prosecutors. He was armed in at least three of them, with a gun, a knife and scissors, according to the Orange County District Attorney's office.

On July 6, 2011, following his fourth robbery, his second in San Juan Capistrano, the defendant discarded his shirt near the scene. Law enforcement recovered the shirt and linked Marano to the crime through DNA, according to a DA press release. The defendant was arrested July 8, 2011.  

Authorities referred to him as the "drifter bandit" .

Marano also had eight "strike" convictions for five 1988 robberies, a robbery last year and two 1988 assaults involving a gun, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Orange County Deputy District Attorney Lynda Fernandez objected to the plea bargain and opposed the judge removing Marano's prior strikes.

"I was prepared to go to trial, and I didn't make an offer," Fernandez said.

The judge said all of Marano's crimes were theft-related and that he was accepting responsibility for them in an early stage of prosecution, Fernandez said.

Marano could have faced up to 125 years to life in prison if convicted at trial, Fernandez said.

This case was jointly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Orange County Sheriff’s Department, according to the DA.

— City News Service contributed to this report.