Grandmother Sentenced to Wear Monitoring Device

At the conclusion of what some considered a strange and heartbreaking attempted robbery case, a meek West Covina grandmother told a Pomona Superior Court judge Thursday that she would rather wear an electronic monitoring device for a year than spend that year in County Jail.

Judge David Milton gave Mary Ruth Blanco, 71, the choice between the two in addition to sentencing her to three years’ probation for attempting to hold up a gas station May 4.

Blaming her actions on side effects of Prozac and the pressures of financial trouble, Blanco pleaded no contest July 26 to one count of attempted robbery.

Blanco told police that a week before the crime, she and her 75-year-old husband, Raymond, received notice that the Internal Revenue Service was going to garnish his $750 pension check. A few days later, their mortgage company sent a foreclosure threat for $900 in unpaid property taxes.

Diabetic and increasingly desperate, Blanco drove to a nearby Unocal station on Pacific Avenue. There she raised a gun and told the clerk, Rafael Chavez, to empty his register. From behind bulletproof glass, Chavez ignored her demand and called police.

Seemingly remorseful, Blanco told reporters outside the courtroom Thursday that the woman who attempted to rob the station “wasn’t me. I wouldn’t have ever done anything like that,” she said.

Since her arrest in May, Blanco has received an outpouring of public sympathy and donations.

Her nephew, Steve Angelo, told reporters he estimates the Blancos have received $10,000 from people all over the country. Although he indicated that more money is needed to dig the family out of debt, Angelo said the family is “grateful for the underlying warmth of the community.

“I think there has been a tremendous opening of the heart,” he said.