An Ocean Beach man who robbed three La Jolla banks as well as four other banks in the “Big Boy Bandit” series was sentenced Friday, Aug. 13 to nine years in federal prison. Stephen Francis Colburn, 55, was ordered to pay $54,991 in restitution to the seven banks he held up along with a $700 penalty assessment fee by U.S. District Court Judge Jeff Miller. The prosecutor requested a 135-month term, while Colburn’s attorney, Michael Crowley, asked for the nine-year term he received. The “Big Boy Bandit” series got its name from the weight of the robber, which was estimated between 220 to 275 pounds. Colburn weighed 240 pounds and is 6 feet 2 inches tall. Crowley told the judge his client led a double life that included gambling and drug addictions. He asked the judge to recommend Colburn go through the 500-hour drug addiction treatment that is available in federal prison. Colburn wrote the judge a letter that said he started gambling nine years ago at local casinos and picked up a cocaine habit, which is where the money went. Colburn was arrested Jan. 26, 2009, outside his apartment on Santa Monica Avenue by San Diego police. At the time, he was driving a 1992 Lexus, and he had been laid off from his job at a printing company. His wife and 6-year-old daughter had to move away and are now in poverty, according to Colburn’s letter. Colburn pleaded guilty to all seven counts. At his first robbery on July 12, 2006, at the Citibank on Hershel Avenue, he got nearly $14,000. He robbed another Citibank on Villa La Jolla Drive on Oct. 5, 2006 and took $3,000, according to court records. The last La Jolla heist occurred Nov. 17, 2008 at California Bank & Trust on Wall Street when he took more than $9,000. He also admitted to robbing a Pacific Western Bank on Rosecrans Street, two Citibank branches in Mission Valley and a Citibank in La Mesa in 2008, netting him more than $29,000. Colburn apparently planned to rob another bank on Jan. 26, 2009 in Mission Valley. Employees thought he was acting suspiciously and took down his car license plate number and physical description, though he left the bank without taking anything. Colburn served in the Air Force and was a jet engine mechanic before he was discharged. He will receive credit for 1 1/2 years in jail that he has now served.