A bank robber who crashed his truck into a San Diego Police car in the Midway area has been sentenced to seven years and eight months in state prison.
Oscar Esteban Valle, 28, was not ordered to pay any restitution back to the three tellers he robbed because almost all of the $9,800 was recovered, said Deputy District Attorney Jim Koerber on Aug. 6.
Valle held up the Wells Fargo bank branch on Balboa Avenue near Genesee Avenue in Clairemont at 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 20, 2014. The money in a bank bag had a GPS track embedded in the cash and San Diego Police officers followed him to the Midway District.
Valle crashed his truck into a patrol vehicle and another car after driving the wrong way on Interstate 8 at the Sports Arena Boulevard exit ramp. He fled on foot, with money falling out of a bag he carried, said Koerber. Some people began picking up the money, and most, if not all, was recovered, he said.
Koerber asked San Diego Superior Court Judge Timothy Walsh for an 11-year sentence while defense attorney Michael Berg asked for a 5-year term. Valle received credit for 11 months in jail since his arrest and he was fined.
Valle pleaded guilty to robbing all three tellers, felon in possession of a firearm, evading officers with reckless driving, and carrying a loaded firearm. He has a 2010 felony conviction for auto theft.
