Robber Receives 20-Year Federal Sentence

PORTLAND, Ore.- Andrew Frank Laviguer, 57, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones to 240 months in federal prison for the robbery of four banks and two motels in Oregon and Washington during August and September of last year.  Laviguer pled guilty to the charges in November of 2013 and has been in custody since the time of his arrest on September 9, 2013.

Laviguer was sentenced for the following robberies: (1) August 14, 2013, armed robbery (replica firearm) of the Columbia Bank on NE Halsey Street in Portland, Oregon; (2) August 30, 2013, robbery of the Key Bank on 17th Avenue SW in Seattle, Washington; (3) September 4, 2013, robbery of the Sterling Savings Bank on Tacoma Mall Blvd. in Tacoma, Washington; (4) September 7, 2013, robbery of the Super 8 Motel on SW Parkway Avenue in Wilsonville, Oregon; (5) September 8, 2013, attempted robbery of the Roadway Inn on Astoria Way NE in Salem, Oregon; and (6) September 9, 2013, armed robbery (replica firearm) of the Wells Fargo Bank on NW 11th Avenue in Portland, Oregon.

Laviguer was arrested by Portland Police Bureau officers after he robbed the Wells Fargo Bank in September of 2013.  Laviguer received a sentence of 180 months, following a 1992 Salem bank robbery.  After serving that sentence and being released, he was convicted of robbing a bank in Gresham in 2007 and was sentenced to 77 months in prison.  Following his release from the Federal Correctional Institution in Williamsburg, South Carolina, on July 9, 2013, he was ordered to report to the Lane County Work Release Center to begin his supervised release for the 2007 bank robbery.  He failed to report and the robbery spree began less than one month later.

In order to achieve the 20-year sentence, Jones found that Laviguer was a “career offender” under federal sentencing law and departed upward from that sentencing range because of Laviguer’s aggravated criminal history and the number of robberies he committed.

This case was investigated by the FBI, the Portland Police Bureau, the King County Sheriff’s Office, the Tacoma Police Department, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office and the Salem Police Department.  It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Weinhouse.