Federal prosecutors hope they’ve lassoed the ‘Cowboy Bandits’

The “Cowboy Gun Bandits” had been on a tear of small-time gas station robberies across Southern California, terrorizing clerks and grabbing what little cash was in the register.

One of the two men wielded a long-barreled Colt six-shooter like a character out of the Old West.

They wore black masks, black hoodies, black gloves and dark-colored pants. They moved fast and never left behind clothing fibers, DNA or fingerprints that experts could analyze.

In just three months, authorities estimate, they committed more than 30 robberies from Los Angeles to Fresno. They rarely made off with more than a few hundred dollars.

Then on Nov. 5, 2013, about 9 a.m., they had their big score.

The pair walked into a Citibank in Glendale and ordered all the bank customers and employees to the ground at gunpoint. They emptied the tellers’ drawers and made off with more than $55,000 in cash. The robberies stopped after that.

But investigators used witness statements and DMV and cellphone records to sharpen an initially fuzzy outline of the suspects.

In June of 2014, federal authorities arrested Dominic Dorsey, 48, and Reginald Bailey, 71, on suspicion of being the Cowboy Gun Bandits. They were charged with eight robberies, including the Glendale Citibank heist.

“They were planning on moving up from liquor stores to a bank,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Joseph Axelrad told a jury in a downtown federal courtroom last week. “They were good, but they did make mistakes, and that’s how they got caught.”

On Tuesday, the case will be handed over to the jury to begin deliberations for the second time. Their first trial earlier this year ended in a hung jury.

Prosecutors admit that the case is almost entirely circumstantial.

When Dorsey and Bailey were arrested in June 2014, authorities didn’t find the black hoodies, dark pants, shoes or even the money associated with the robberies.

A search of the men’s homes and cars didn’t turn up the gun used in the crimes, believed to be an 1873 Colt revolver.

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But evidence presented at the trial showed the men’s cellphones were within miles of each of the robbery locations hours before and after each of the crimes. Investigators said the men turned off their phones during each robbery, leaving a hole in their whereabouts.

In video from one of the robberies, Dorsey is seen exiting the passenger side of a car stopped at a gas station pump, then going inside the market and making a small purchase as a regular customer.

He then gets back into the car, which drives off. Less than 10 minutes later, the gas station is robbed. Authorities say that was Bailey.

The car used that day also matched one seen at many of the robberies. One witness was able to recite the last three numbers on the license plate, and records narrowed it down to a single black Nissan in the Los Angeles area. That car belonged to Dorsey’s wife.

Then less than three weeks after the Citibank holdup, Dorsey put down a $9,000 cash deposit on a new Mercedes Benz. He listed Bailey — whom he identified as his uncle — as his emergency contact.

A closer look at Bailey turned up a host of clues to his involvement in the crimes, prosecutors told the jury.

Security video from the bank robbery showed that one of the robbers who matched Bailey’s height and build also walked with a similar limp and appeared to be missing his left ring finger when he was fleeing with the bags of money.

Bailey has only four fingers on his left hand. When authorities arrested him they found black gloves in his backpack and a blue bandana similar to one worn during one of the robberies in his apartment.

But there were no outward signs of wealth that would connect Bailey to the crimes. His L.A. studio apartment was small and cluttered. He didn’t have a stove so he relied on a hot plate to cook and used rental cars to get around.

“Speculation is not proof. The government can’t speculate, they have to prove the case,” Bailey’s attorney, Jay Lichtman, told the jury.

If convicted, Dorsey and Bailey face up to 120 years in prison because of the violent nature of some of the crimes.

joe.serna@latimes.com

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