‘Walk to the Back’ Bandit Gets 47-Year Term

Paul Bresney, the “walk to the back” bandit, was sentenced Tuesday to 47 years and 4 months in state prison for committing 51 robberies, the longest individual crime spree in San Diego County history.

Superior Court Judge David M. Gill said in issuing the sentence, “He put an incredible number of people at great risk.”

Bresney, 39, received his nickname because he would order his young victims to the back of the small stores he was robbing. The series of crimes involved stores all over the county from January to April of 1989.

Bresney was convicted last month of committing 51 robberies--many of them involving the use of a gun--and of two attempted robberies. The jury was unable to reach a decision on two counts of robbery, and he was acquitted on one robbery charge.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Dusek said Bresney has been a criminal since the age of 14, when he started using and selling drugs.

“It’s not like he’s a virgin in here today,” Dusek said. “He’s just very good and very careful.”

Bresney is reportedly a recovering heroin addict, and Dusek said he committed a robbery in La Mesa on the same day he checked into a methadone treatment program. Dusek said the robberies netted Bresney more than $15,000.

Dusek asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence of 62 years. “I think he deserves every bit of it,” he said.

Bresney’s defense attorney, Geraldine Russell, asked the court for a 25- to 30-year sentence, saying that anything longer would be the same as a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Russell asked Gill to consider Bresney’s potential. Speaking on behalf of the defendant were a Narcotics Anonymous leader, who said Bresney’s background would be “priceless” to her group, and a member of the jury.