Man who swindled millions from Anchorage bank sentenced to 10 years

The case of the $4.3 million heist from an Anchorage bank vault has come to a close after eight years, though $500,000 is still missing.

Gerardo Adan Cazarez Valenzuela, also known as Gary Cazarez, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday in federal court by Judge Timothy Burgess. He pleaded guilty to the crime in January.

The former vault manager for KeyBank, now 34, loaded the cash into boxes on July 29, 2011, after organizing an ice-cream social at work. The get-together gave him an excuse to stay late as he cleaned up the office, authorities said.

The Anchorage man had a chartered jet waiting and had improperly trained new employees on vault procedures, ensuring that a second bank worker was not present during the robbery.

“He boxed up $4.3 million in cash, rolled it out of the vault to his car in the parking lot, and loaded the money into his car,” according to a statement from the U.S. District Attorney’s office. “Valenzuela drove to where the private jet was waiting for him in Anchorage and he flew to Seattle."

He then bought a car and drove to Mexico with the cash.

“Valenzuela had set the timer on the vault lock for the maximum time allowable, giving him six days to escape to Mexico,” the statement said. “By the time Keybank discovered his theft, Valenzuela and his girlfriend were already in Mexico.”

But there was a big problem for Valenzuela. Mexican authorities arrested him on Aug. 2, 2011, following a random search of his luggage at a checkpoint after he crossed the southern U.S. border. They found $3.8 million in cash, firearms, and ammunition in his luggage, and arrested him on charges related to smuggling cash and firearms into the country.

Valenzuela spent seven years in a Mexican prison, and was extradited to the U.S. last year.

He won’t get credit for his time in the Mexican prison, the statement said. Burgess said he displayed a “lack of candor” with the court.

Part of Valenzuela’s plan included stashing $500,000 in Washington before he fled to Mexico, a future fund if he was ever arrested.

“That money has still not been recovered,” the statement said.