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Role In Heist Nets Prison For Ex-Apollo Beach Bank Boss

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2007

TAMPA - A former bank manager was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years and seven months in federal prison for orchestrating a robbery at the Apollo Beach bank where she worked.

Bibi Lall, 36, acknowledged plotting with armed robber Paul Anthony Graham, 46, to take $127,000 from Trustco Bank in October 2006. When investigators pressured Lall for details on the crime, she lied and told them Graham had blackmailed her, threatening to tell her husband about her boyfriend, lawyers said.

With Lall's help, Graham was captured in Belize, said Lall's attorney, Ronald Smith. If not for her, he "would have lived the life of luxury with $127,000," Smith said.

As Graham was about to go on trial, Lall's story about being blackmailed fell apart. Lawyers said Graham provided investigators with proof Lall had gone to a concert with him the night before the robbery.

Lall then agreed to take a polygraph test, but before the test was given, she "admitted lying," Smith said. The attorney told U.S. District Judge William J. Castagna the defendant planned to tell the truth even before she knew investigators suspected something was wrong.

Smith said that had she not lied, her sentence would be about 6 1/2 years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Kerwin said the robbery was designed to cover up the fact that Lall had embezzled $6,000 from the bank and to help Lall deal with her debts.

"She set into motion the bank robbery that occurred that day and she should be punished," Kerwin told the judge.

On Tuesday, Lall tearfully apologized to the court, the prosecutor and the FBI. "I hope you find it in your heart to take sympathy on me and my two kids," she begged Castagna.

According to court documents, Graham walked into the bank just before 1 p.m. on Oct. 21, 2006.

Teller James Scholder had begun his closing procedures and was in the vault.

Lall and Graham went to the vault area. Graham pulled up his shirt to display a semiautomatic handgun and forced Scholder to empty money from the vault into a black gym bag, the documents state.

Graham took Scholder to the ATM room, where the bank's security video equipment was kept. He forced the teller to lie down and took the teller's necktie and tied his hands, according to the documents.

After a few minutes, Lall opened the door to the ATM room and took the security video from the VCR before shutting the door.

The teller freed himself and found Lall tied up with her pantyhose. She told him to hit the panic alarm.

Two days later, Hillsborough County sheriff's detectives asked Lall to take a polygraph test. When the examiner concluded Lall was being deceptive, she was questioned again.

After nearly two hours of intense interrogation, Lall gave detectives her version of the crime.

After Graham established he had not coerced Lall, the prosecution agreed to a deal on the eve of his scheduled trial, and he pleaded guilty to bank robbery and aiding and abetting.

Graham was sentenced Tuesday to nine years and five months in prison.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at esilvestrini@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7837.

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