Man Convicted of Local Bank Robberies

A man was convicted Thursday for his part in a series of robberies of local banks—including one in Rancho Bernardo—that netted a group of masked bandits $293,000.

A jury found Tranes Goins, 29, guilty of two counts of robbery and being personally armed during the robberies. Jurors acquitted Goins of three robbery counts. He faces more than 19 years in prison when Judge Leo Valentine Jr. sentences him on July 14.

Goins is one of four men who were charged in connection with five robberies that took place between September 2008 and January 2009.

Earlier this year, Thaddeus Williams was convicted of being the getaway driver in three of the robberies. He was sentenced to 14 years and four months in state prison.

Terry Mixon, 25, and Jeremy Gibbs, 23, will be tried in late August.

During Williams’ trial, Deputy District Attorney Allen Brown said that a group of men entered the banks with guns drawn, jumped the counters and ordered bank managers to open the vaults during the takeover-style holdups.

The robberies took place at a U.S. Bank branch in Del Mar, a Pacific Western bank branch in Rancho Bernardo, a Wells Fargo bank branch in El Cajon, a U.S. Bank branch in San Marcos and a Bank of America branch in Del Cerro, Brown said.

Four suspects robbed the Rancho Bernardo bank of more than $25,500 on Dec. 1, 2008, Brown said.

Bank officials put a tracking device with the stolen money during the holdup of the Bank of America branch in Del Cerro on Jan. 24, 2009. Police arrested the four suspects 20 minutes later in two separate cars in El Cajon, where Williams resided, Brown said.

City News Service contributed to this report.