Ukiah Man Pleads Guilty to Bank Robbery Days Before Going to Trial

With his jury trial scheduled to commence this coming Monday, a man charged with bank robbery threw in the towel and admitted his crime Friday afternoon.

Defendant Dean Michael Stevens, age 54, generally of Ukiah, plead no contest to the January 21st robbery of the Ukiah branch of Chase Bank.

A no contest plea to a felony charge is the same a guilty plea for all purposes.

The defendant also admitted as true a Strike sentencing enhancement alleging that he suffered a prior conviction for robbery in the Sonoma County Superior Court back on October 27, 2015.

As required by the prosecutor to make Monday’s trial go away, the defendant agreed to be sentence to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for a term of ten (10) years.

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Robbery is characterized as a violent felony by California law so any credits the defendant may attempt to earn towards his early release from state prison shall be limited to no more than 15% of the sentence to be imposed.

After the no contest plea was accepted and entered into the record, the defendant’s case was referred to the Adult Probation Department for preparation of a prison packet to accompany the defendant to CDCR.

Formal sentencing is calendared for September 9th at 9 o’clock in the morning in Department A in the courthouse in Ukiah.

Any person interested in this case or this defendant is welcome to attend the sentencing hearing. Come prepared – masks are required to be worn by all who enter the courthouse.

The law enforcement agencies that developed the evidence underlying today’s conviction were the Ukiah Police Department, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, and the State Parole office.

The attorney who has been personally prosecuting this defendant is District Attorney David Eyster.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Keith Faulder accepted the defendant’s change of plea Friday afternoon.