1024/08 Dinner Time Bandit Faces The Music

Alan Golder, 52, is escorted by detectives out of the Greenwich, Conn., Police Department, in this Nov. 23, 2007, file photo, as he heads to court in Stamford to face felony burglary, larceny and kidnapping charges stemming from a crime spree in the 1990s. Jurors convicted Golder of kidnapping, two counts of burglary and one count of larceny on Aug. 20. He was acquitted of two counts each of burglary and larceny.

(Greenwich Time / file photo)

Dinnertime Bandit faces prison time

By Debra Friedman

Staff Writer
Article Launched: 10/24/2008 08:29:39 AM EDT

The fate of Alan Golder, the once-elusive "Dinnertime Bandit," will be decided today when a judge sentences him for his August conviction on burglary, larceny and kidnapping charges.

The longtime fugitive, who was captured by Belgian authorities in December 2006, faces up to 65 years in prison on the charges that stem from two burglaries in 1997 in Greenwich.

Golder's attorney, Howard Ehring, said he anticipated an appeal regardless of the sentence given Golder by Judge John Kavanewsky today. Ehring said he had already filed a motion to dismiss the kidnapping charge altogether.

During trial, Ehring said the kidnapping charge overreaches the law because it violates a June state Supreme Court decision that narrows the circumstances in which police can use the charge. The issue is of particular concern to the defense, as the kidnapping conviction carries the most severe penalty, of up to 25 years in prison, Ehring said....

....At the time of conviction, the prosecutor, Assistant State's Attorney Jospeh Valdes, speculated that jurors found the testimony of Golder's co-conspirator Robert Liebman particularly crucial.

Golder was not convicted of charges linked to two burglaries that Liebman did not testify about....

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UPDATE:

'Dinnertime Bandit' sentenced to 15 years in prison

By Debra Friedman

Staff Writer
Article Launched: 10/24/2008 01:42:48 PM EDT

STAMFORD - Alan Golder, convicted as the Dinnertime Bandit for two Greenwich burglaries, was sentenced today in state Superior Court in Stamford to 15 years in prison.

Prior to his sentencing, Golder addressed the court telling the judge he was confused as to the charges he was convicted on and blaming the work of his Attorney, Howard Ehring.

"I believe Howard Ehring sold me out," said Golder. "I think the jury was confused when they found me guilty."
Kavanewsky told Golder that he had no one to blame but himself.

"Mr. Golder, you may have some grandiose illusions that you are an icon in the industry," Kavenewsky said to Golder in the courtroom. "But put simply, you are a convict."

The 15 year sentence fell in the middle of the range requested by both the prosecution and the defense.

Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Valdes argued for Golder to be sentenced to 30 years in prison. "He is a career burglar who took pride in his methodology. He had it down to a science," said Valdes. "There is nothing here that merits any sort of sympathy." .....

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