‘Underwear Bandit’ Facing Long Jail Term

‘Underwear Bandit’ Facing Long Jail Term

source: Associated Press Strange News

A Southern California man who became notorious in the 1980s for forcing women to hand over their underwear at gunpoint could be sentenced to life in prison under California’s “three strikes” law following his conviction for commercial burglary and possessing stolen property.

Orange County Superior Court jurors deliberated for about an hour Thursday before returning the guilty verdicts against Bruce Allen Lyons.

Lyons, 48, was convicted of breaking into an Aliso Viejo chiropractor’s office on Oct. 4.

Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh said he burglarized the office in an attempt to obtain the phone number of a woman who didn’t want to date him.

“Lyons is a poster boy for three strikes,” Baytieh said, adding he would ask for a sentence of 51 years to life at the man’s March 28 sentencing hearing.

Lyons also faces robbery charges in Los Angeles County for the theft of cell phones and credit cards that authorities say were taken from four women the day before the Aliso Viejo burglary.

Authorities said the crimes took place shortly after Lyons was released from prison.

He had been sentenced to 15 years in 1988 for a series of robberies throughout Southern California in which women and teenage girls were ordered to remove and hand over their underwear.

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