A 40-year-old woman told a federal judge Thursday she went to rob First Hawaiian Bank’s Chinatown branch on June 17 but spotted a teller who had identified her in a 2002 robbery, so she walked out and robbed the nearby Bank of Hawaii branch.
Debbie Louise Yxcot, 40, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday afternoon to the robbery of the Chinatown Bank of Hawaii. She faces up to 20 years in prison when she is sentenced in January.
Honolulu police officers responding to a complaint of people arguing at a Hauula beach park on June 18 recognized Yxcot as the bank robber from the previous day and arrested her.
Yxcot, who said she was homeless at the time, told police she robbed the bank because she needed money to buy drugs. She said she first walked into First Hawaiian Bank’s Chinatown branch intending to rob it but walked out with a deposit slip after seeing the teller.
She told police she then walked over to Bank of Hawaii and handed a teller the deposit slip on which she had written, "This is a hold-up, I have a gun."
Federal prosecutor Darren Ching said Yxcot (pronounced "ix-cot") walked out of the bank with $260.
Yxcot had tried to plead guilty in August, but U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright had concerns about her mental competency.
At the time, when Seabright asked Yxcot if she had taken any illegal drugs, she said she used methamphetamine.
Under further questioning, Yxcot told Seabright the last time she used methamphetamine: "When I was robbing the bank."
She also told Seabright she was taking a number of medications for multiple types of mental illnesses.
When Seabright asked her if the medications helped her, Yxcot said she hears voices, most recently the night before.
Seabright ordered a mental competency examination.
He declared Yxcot mentally competent Thursday afternoon after receiving a report from a local psychologist who examined her and asked her a series of questions.
"It’s clear she’s on top of her game," Seabright said.
Yxcot spent 38 months in prison for the Nov. 26, 2002, robbery of the Chinatown First Hawaiian Bank and an additional two years in prison for violating the terms of her subsequent supervised release.
