Surveillance photo of Dominique Polani
SACRAMENTO — A young woman—who was arrested last July for a series of bank robberies in Sacramento—pleaded no contest in Sacramento Superior Court on Friday, February 26, 2016 and will be sentenced to six years in prison.
Dominique Polani, 23, was arrested in Bakersfield on July 17, 2015 after detectives were able to identify her and obtain a search warrant. She robbed five Bank of the West, Citibank, and Chase Bank locations in Sacramento on July 1, 9, 14 and 15, 2015.
Security camera images from one of these banks showed Polani at the teller’s counter in a baseball cap and wearing thick horn-rimmed glasses. In each of the incidents, she allegedly slipped notes to tellers saying she was armed and demanded cash.
She faced five counts of second-degree robbery in connection with the holdups. However, as part of her plea deal with Sacramento County District Office prosecutors, Polani pleaded no contest to two of these five counts.
Following sentencing on March 25, 2016 before Superior Court Judge Jaime Roman, Polani—who is being held at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center near Elk Grove—will receive a five-year term on the first count and an additional year on the second.
Investigators said tips on social media and bank surveillance cameras help them to arrest Polani. Her defense attorney, Marcus Wiggins, maintained throughout the months-long case that she was coerced into these robberies by her boyfriend.
Polani’s father, Joe, told the media last summer that his daughter got mixed up with the wrong crowd. “Other than that she is happy, likes to please people and always has a smile on her face.”
