F.V. man dubbed ‘bladed bandit’ gets 10-year prison sentence for bank robberies

A 29-year-old Fountain Valley man whom law enforcement nicknamed the “bladed bandit” was sentenced this week to 10 years in prison for a series of bank robberies in Orange County and Long Beach.

Chad Dupape pleaded guilty in June to four counts of armed bank robbery and attempted bank robbery.

During a sentencing hearing Monday at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana, Dupape also was ordered to serve five years of supervised release and pay $25,000 in restitution to the banks he robbed, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Dupape was charged with robbing a Chase Bank branch in Seal Beach on Jan. 2 and a U.S. Bank in Fountain Valley on Jan. 18. He tried to rob a Farmers & Merchants Bank in Long Beach as well as a Wells Fargo branch in Fountain Valley on Jan. 16, authorities said.

The robber was given the nickname “bladed bandit” because he pulled out a knife at the Seal Beach bank, authorities said. Dupape admitted to showing a bank teller a handgun during one of the robberies.

Vincent Edward Wilson, 53, of Long Beach, who authorities said drove Dupape to two of the banks and acted as a lookout at one, also has pleaded guilty to robbery charges and is awaiting sentencing.

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