Brief Escape Delayed Sentencing : Robber Gets 21 Years for 13-Day Spree

A robber, who briefly escaped from the Van Nuys court complex this week, was sentenced Thursday to 21 years in prison for robbing 12 San Fernando Valley businesses during a 13-day period last May.

Calling Edward Lee Gandy a peril to society, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge C. Bernard Kaufman said he could not approve the 18-year prison term that Deputy Dist. Atty. Michelle R. Rosenblatt had recommended.

“This man has caused a lot of havoc in a very short time,” Kaufman said.

Gandy, 24, pleaded guilty in March to 13 counts of robbery involving 12 restaurants and markets and told authorities he needed the money to support a $200-a-day cocaine habit. Gandy admitted to using a gun in nine of those incidents, Rosenblatt said.

The amounts stolen in the robberies varied from $75 to $700, according to Gandy’s probation report.

Long Criminal Record

Gandy was on parole at the time and already had a lengthy criminal record, including convictions for burglary, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, the probation report said. His record also includes a battery conviction that stems from a shooting when he was 15.

Gandy was scheduled to be sentenced Monday, but he slipped out of his handcuffs, scaled a 12-foot-high fence of razor wire at the Van Nuys court complex and tried to commandeer a car before he was apprehended and returned to custody a few minutes later, authorities said.

The escape was not addressed at Thursday’s sentencing. He has not been charged in the escape. Authorities said Thursday they were still investigating the incident.

In asking for a more lenient sentence, Gandy’s court-appointed attorney, Herbert B. Weiss, told the judge that the gun Gandy displayed in each of the robberies was a toy pistol that belonged to his girlfriend’s son.

No Harm Meant

“The fact that he used a toy gun when apparently his relatives had access to real weapons indicates that Mr. Gandy was in no way intending on doing any physical harm to these people other than robbing them,” Weiss said.

Although a toy gun may have been used in some of the robberies, Rosenblatt said a real firearm was displayed in nine of the incidents.

Gandy was returned to County Jail on Thursday because he still faces another charge of attempted robbery, Rosenblatt said. He will be sent to prison once that matter is settled, authorities said.