Two Get Over 21 Years For Bank Holdup Both Were Wounded In Seattle Shootout; All $1.08 Million Stolen Was Recovered

Two accomplices of the late serial bank robber known as “Hollywood” were sentenced Wednesday to more than 21 years in prison for taking part in a $1 million bank heist last November.

Steve Paul Meyers, 47, of New Orleans, and Mark John Biggins, 42, from the Oxnard, Calif., area, pleaded guilty in February to federal bank robbery charges.

Prosecutors had asked for 24-year sentences since both men admitted previous bank robberies, said Tom Ziemba, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.

But U.S. District Judge William Dwyer handed down the low end of the sentencing guideline - 255 months - which included an automatic 10 years for using semiautomatic assault weapons when firing upon police.

Meyers and Biggins were wounded in a shootout with police after a Nov. 27 north Seattle bank robbery and police chase. The $1.08 million stolen from the Seafirst Bank branch was recovered.

A third man sought in the robbery, William Scurlock of Olympia - whom the FBI nicknamed “Hollywood” because of his penchant for theatrical makeup and disguises - eluded police for 24 hours before killing himself the next day as police closed in.

The FBI blamed Scurlock for more than a dozen area robberies.

His accomplices in the Nov. 27 heist pleaded guilty to charges of armed bank robbery, conspiracy, assault on a federal officer and use of firearms during an assault on a federal officer.

Agents had staked out the Seafirst bank prior to the holdup and were able to respond quickly when the robbers struck just before closing, police said.