'BUTTERFINGERS BANDIT' SENTENCED TO 70 MONTHS.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

Christopher Harris Wright, who earned the nickname ``Butterfingers Bandit'' because of his penchant for dropping cash during bank robberies, was sentenced Wednesday to 70 months in federal prison.

U.S. District Court Judge William Matthew Byrne Jr. handed down the sentence to Wright, 32, of Los Angeles during a hearing in a Los Angeles federal courtroom. He was also ordered to pay $20,464 in restitution.

Wright pleaded guilty in May to robbing six banks during a four-month period in Mission Hills, Northridge, North Hollywood, Van Nuys and Sherman Oaks. He admitted taking a total of about $20,000 in a four-month spree that ended Feb. 19.

He was suspected, however, of robbing as many as 25 banks, with the cash used to support a drug habit.

``We asked the judge today to take into account 19 other robberies that we believe we can link him to,'' said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. ``We, in fact, argued that the sentence should be just over 10 years.''

Byrne declined to take into account the additional robberies because charges were never filed in those cases.

The U.S. Attorney's Office also asked for restitution on all 25 robberies, which would have totaled $71,000.

Wright earned the nickname ``Butterfingers Bandit'' after dropping stacks of cash while leaving one holdup.

He would walk into a bank wearing a hat and sunglasses and hand the teller a note. Those notes typically indicated that he had a bomb, and demanded the teller to pass him large bills within 20 seconds.

He was arrested Feb. 21 during a traffic stop, after officers noticed a pair of brass knuckles in his car. They also found demand notes Wright used in the robberies, according to court documents.