SAN LUIS OBISPO — San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow announced Tuesday, Oct. 20, that a San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge sentenced Michael Isodor Wallravin to 25-years-to-life in state prison for the Nov. 15, 2019, robbery of Premier Heritage Oaks Bank in Paso Robles. He was convcited by a San Luis Obispo County Jury on Sept. 18.

On Nov. 15, 2019, Paso Robles Police Department responded to a bank robbery at Premier Heritage Oaks Bank. Witnesses described the two suspects as wearing masks and armed with guns. The robbers made off with approximately $9,000 in cash. Further investigation led to Wallravin, 62, of Paso Robles, who attempted to flee from law enforcement officers when contacted by police. A search of his person revealed that he had possession of ‘bait’ money from the bank and a quantity of methamphetamine. 

Wallravin was also proven to have been convicted of prior serious and violent offenses making his case a three-strikes sentencing case. A jury found true the allegations that he was previously convicted of two separate counts of robbery in 1991. Wallravin was previously sentenced to serve 12 years in state prison after those earlier robberies.

The lengthy prison sentence in this case is pursuant to California’s Three Strikes Law that says if a career criminal already convicted of two crimes defined as serious or violent is convicted of a new serious or violent offense, they can be sentenced to 25-years-to-life in prison.

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“We will always aggressively prosecute violent crimes like robbery and pursue appropriately tough sentences,” said Dow. “With frequent ‘reforms’ to criminal law in California, we cannot accurately predict how much of his sentence this career criminal will actually serve, but for the foreseeable future, he will be unable to victimize anyone in our community.”   

This case was investigated by the Paso Robles Police Department and prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney James Graff-Radford.