Last of three sentenced in armed bank robbery

Judge said victims ‘went through hell’

The Southwest Community Connection, Nov 9, 2009

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The last of three Los Angeles men has been sentenced in the 2007 violent armed robbery of a Raleigh Hills U.S. Bank branch.

U.S. District Court Judge James Redden sentenced Trayvon Mike Betterson, 24, of Los Angeles on Nov. 3 to nearly nine years in federal prison for his role in the armed robbery at 8205 S.W. Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.

Over the course of the investigation, police said they uncovered Crip gang ties to each of the three co-defendants: Betterson, Jonathan Longmire, and Christopher Augustus Swanson.

The District of Oregon Acting U.S. Attorney’s office said Betterson and Longmire entered the bank just after it opened on Sept. 5, 2007. The two forced several employees and customers to the ground and tied one up with a plastic zip tie before asking an employee to open the vault, who refused claiming there was no money in the vault.

Longmire threatened the bank employees at gunpoint until Betterson forced a teller to open the cash drawers and took about $2,256, prosecutors said.

The get-away driver, Swanson, then entered the bank to see what was taking so long. When he saw himself on the surveillance monitors, prosecutors said he tried in vain to find and destroy the video tape.

The three escaped, but police officers quickly caught up to their vehicle. After a short car chase, the three attempted to run away on foot, but were eventually captured.

On April 28, 30-year-old Swanson was sentenced to 100 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. On Oct. 27, Longmire, age 26, was sentenced to 110 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. On Nov. 3, Betterson, age 24, was sentenced to 105 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

In sentencing Betterson, Redden noted that the “bank robbery was the worst ever described in this court” and that “the people in the bank went through hell.”

This case was investigated by the Beaverton Police Department, the Portland Police Bureau, the Hillsboro Police Department, Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Tigard Police Department, Tualatin Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Scott Kerin, the head of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Gang Unit.