Pou Charged With Texas Bank Robbery

James Douglas Pou, the Air Force staff sergeant who deserted and led a secret life for five years, has been charged with robbing a Texas bank in a commando-style raid in 1988.

Officials at March Air Force Base in Riverside announced Friday that Pou, serving 18 months of confinement on base for desertion and bigamy, has been charged with bank robbery, fraudulently obtaining a passport and unauthorized use of an Army scuba badge.

Pou, 32, is charged with robbing a bank in Calallen, near Corpus Christi, of $40,000.

An account in a Texas newspaper the day after the Aug. 2, 1988, robbery said a robber wearing camouflage boldly dashed into the bank and brandished what tellers thought was a grenade. The robber eluded a manhunt that included 20 police officers and a Coast Guard helicopter, possibly by using a boat on the Nueces River or making his way through a field on a three-wheel vehicle.

Pou was a member of an elite pararescue unit trained in the use of weapons, escape techniques and emergency medical treatment. Pou prided himself on being physically fit and bragged to friends that he was a Navy SEAL.

The Air Force declared him dead on May 22, 1987, after he staged an accident on a bridge over the Rio Grande near Albuquerque, N.M. Pou had been stationed nearby at Kirkland Air Force Base.

After faking his death, Pou abandoned his wife and two children and moved to Chula Vista, a suburb of San Diego. He assumed an alias, illegally remarried, fathered three more children, including one with a neighbor, and made a handsome living for a while by buying and renovating houses in poor neighborhoods.

After Pou and his second wife had a falling out over his infidelity, she learned of his double identity and notified authorities. In November he pleaded guilty to charges of desertion and bigamy and was given a bad-conduct discharge, and was ordered to serve 18 months of confinement.

A single count of a first-offense armed bank robbery can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.