November 29 2013
An Iranian man previously convicted of several bank robberies in California has been arrested once again for allegedly robbing a bank in Riverside County, this time while wearing a wig disguise.
Authorities said Harold Henry Ghaemmaghami was wanted for an armed robbery at the US Bank in La Quinta November 9. The suspect entered the branch wearing a blond wig, walked up to a teller and said he had a gun as he demanded money. The teller complied, and the suspect fled with an undisclosed amount of money.
Ghaemmaghami normally has a shaved head, so the wig made a major change in appearance.
On Sunday, the 50-year-old resident of the town of Joshua Tree was taken into custody and booked for armed robbery. It is unclear what led investigators to him. However, they had circulated surveillance images of the suspect prior to his arrest.
According to court documents, Ghaemmaghami has a long criminal record dating back at least to 1995, when he was arrested for his participation in several bank robberies. His defense attorney was able to reach a plea deal with prosecutors, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and five years of supervised release. In 2006, he was ordered back to prison for violating the terms of his supervised release.
Then in 2008, he was arrested again for trying to steal a car from an automobile lot. He was sentenced to two years, but because it was his second strike, his sentence was doubled to four years in state prison.
In 2012, the court found him in violation of his probation, and he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Before his sentencing hearing, he told the judge in a letter that he was prepared to turn his life around and acknowledged his addiction to drugs.
“I am committed to changing my life, and therapy and sobriety are the cornerstones of that change,” he said.
Ghaemmaghami also revealed that while he was in custody, he found out that he was the father of a girl, who is now 5 years old.
“Since that day, my life has been so much more complicated, but she is such a sweet and absolutely wonderful child who needs a dad,” he said. “I grew up in a broken home, and I know how important a dad is to a child, and I need to pay my debt to society so that I can get out and take care of my responsibilities.”
Ghaemmaghami was released from prison January 29 and was free only nine months before the bank robbery with which he is now charged.
If convicted, that will be his third strike under California law and he will go to prison for the rest of his life.
According to his Google+ page, he previously lived in Tehran and in Charlotte, North Carolina.
