Gunman Sentenced to 8 Years for Armored Truck, Bar Heists

A Canoga Park man was sentenced Tuesday to eight years and eight months in prison in two 1984 robberies. In one of the January robberies, $54,000 was taken from an armored truck parked outside a Panorama City grocery store.

Jon C. Bobier, 28, former manager of a Westwood pizza restaurant, drew the sentence for that holdup and for the $1,100 armed robbery of a bartender at the Valley Hilton in Sherman Oaks, which took place two weeks earlier.

During the armored truck robbery, which occurred near the intersection of Nordhoff Street and Van Nuys Boulevard, the gunman fired a .38-caliber revolver at one of the guards.

Loot Not Recovered

The robber grabbed four bags of money but dropped his gun as he ran away, police said. The $54,000 has not been recovered.

Bobier was arrested on Feb. 29, 1984. In a jury trial in January he was convicted of two counts of robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. He could have been sentenced to a maximum of 11 years, seven months in state prison, said his attorney, James Blatt.

During his arraignment in Van Nuys Municipal Court on March 3, 1984, Bobier jumped over a railing and bolted from the courtroom. He was caught a block away. He could be given an additional sentence of three years in prison for the escape, Blatt said.

Juvenile Car Thief

Bobier’s criminal record dates to 1972, when he was convicted of stealing a car while a juvenile, according to his probation report. In 1976 he was convicted of assaulting a police officer.

Judge Richard G. Kolostian of Van Nuys Superior Court, who passed sentence, said Bobier “has now graduated from stealing to robbery. There is not a single scintilla of doubt in my mind that he is guilty of the crime.”

Victims in both crimes identified Bobier as the bandit.

He will be eligible for parole after serving half his term.