‘Paw Paw Bandit’ Gets 4 Years For Bank Holdups

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A white-haired, balding bank robber dubbed the "Paw Paw Bandit" has pleaded guilty to one holdup, and federal prosecutors say he admitted committing four others.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten says Judge Jane Triche Milazzo sentenced 58-year-old Michael W. Lewallen of Metairie on Thursday to four years in prison and three on supervised probation for a holdup Aug. 5, 2011, at a Whitney National Bank branch in Metairie.

He says Lewallen also signed a statement that he held up four other Jefferson Parish banks in the weeks before the one to which he pleaded guilty in December.

Letten says that if Lewallen violates probation after getting out of prison, he could get more prison time.