The “Bag Trick Bandit” was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison and ordered to pay $12,244 to a Midway Drive bank and another on Genesee Ave.
Jonathan Kevin McCant, 39, robbed the same teller twice on Jan. 8 and 22 at the U.S. Bank at 3645 Midway Drive. He held up another teller at the U.S. Bank on Genesee Ave on Dec. 21, 2016.
Deputy District Attorney Lucille Yturralde asked San Diego Superior Court Judge Polly Shamoon for a 14-year and four month sentence. His attorney, Brian Schmidt, asked for six years. The nickname came from when McCant put his hand in a bag before tellers in which he simulated having a gun. Tellers saw a gun in the last two robberies.
McCant told a probation officer he did have remorse. Schmidt said he had a long-standing drug problem as well as psychiatric issues.
McCant sported a Mohawk haircut in court which was formed while he has been in jail. He said nothing in court. He received credit for 152 days spent in jail.
Shamoon also fined him $10,000 and ordered him to pay another prisoner $400 for injuries in a fight in jail. She also ordered McCant to pay $500 in property damage for a hit and run.
McCant pleaded guilty April 13 to all charges including three robberies, two attempted bank robberies, felony assault of another inmate with a cane, and hit and run. The prosecutor said she put in his prison packet a 1990 newspaper story about McCant when he was 12 years old and had disappeared.
Yturralde said prison officials will have the article available to them and it might give them some insight about him.
McCant’s father was the Rev. Jerry McCant, a minister who was a religion professor at Point Loma Nazarene University. In November 1990, his father gave published interviews when his son went missing for at least three weeks.
McCant and friends distributed thousands of fliers with his photo in Ocean Beach and elsewhere. He said his son had run away from home once before for 24 hours and he was very concerned about him. McCant described his son as emotionally disturbed. Photos of his son were released to the media. McCant died in a car accident in 2015 in North Carolina.
Jonathan McCant was arrested on Jan. 25 after he was spotted by police driving a stolen U-Hall truck on Linda Vista Road. He lost control of the truck on Friars Road and it hit a parked car. He ran into a riverbed area and police took him into custody with the help of a service dog.
He has a prior record of auto theft and grand theft.