38-Year Fugitive Bank Robber Captured in Ukiah, Pleads Guilty Before Trial

The following is a press release issued by the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office:

A 30-year plus fugitive hiding from the U.S. Marshals but caught by local authorities in Ukiah last year was convicted by plea Monday morning … minutes before jury selection was to get underway in the criminal case being pursued by local prosecutors.

Instead of proceeding with the jury trial he had demanded, defendant Kourosh Sadeghi, age 62, a citizen of Iran but living more recently in the Laytonville area of Mendocino County, “threw in the towel” and entered no contest pleas to the three pending criminal charges: false impersonation of another, a felony; driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, a misdemeanor, and driving a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol .08 or greater, a misdemeanor.

In addition to admitting criminal responsibility on all three charges to resolve his case, the defendant also stipulated to a state prison sentence of 24 months.

The 24-month sentence will be formally imposed at a sentencing hearing scheduled for May 1, 2024 at 9 o’clock in the morning in Department B in the Ukiah Courthouse.

Arrested last September for DUI by the Ukiah Police Department, the defendant presented the officer an expired California driver’s license as his identification. It later turned out that that expired CDL belonged to a former Bay Area acquaintance of the defendant.

- Advertisement -

While Sadeghi was initially booked into the county jail under the false I.D. and name, follow-up by jail personnel revealed the defendant’s true identity.

Defendant Sadeghi was previously convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (San Diego) for having robbed the Great American First Savings Bank in 1984. Once arrested and convicted, he was sentenced to and served 8 years in federal prison for that crime.

After being released on supervised parole, the defendant violated terms of his parole and the federal judge issued a warrant in 1990 for Sadeghi’s arrest.

In 1991, federal law enforcement agents located and attempted to arrest Sadeghi, but he eluded them in a vehicle and foot pursuit.

Defendant Sadeghi was later arrested in San Francisco in 1997 and again in 1998 on drug sales charges. In both cases he used – and was convicted under — false names that were not detected as false names by the San Francisco authorities.

Defendant Sadeghi was also arrested in Fullerton in 2008 for DUI and, again, convicted under a false name that was not caught by the Los Angeles County authorities.

The law enforcement agencies that developed the evidence that was going to be used at this week’s Mendocino County trial were the Ukiah Police Department, the California Department of Justice crime laboratory, the U.S. Marshal Service, and the District Attorney’s own Bureau of Investigations.

The prosecutor who is handling this case is District Attorney David Eyster.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Victoria Shanahan accepted the defendant’s no contest pleas and will impose the stipulated sentence at the May hearing.

- Advertisement -

It is expected that defendant Sadeghi will have additional court appearances and proceedings sometime after May in the San Francisco County Superior Court and the U.S. District Court in San Diego.

Previous Coverage

- Advertisement -