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Bicycle bandit' gets 102 years for crimes

By GLENN E. RICE

The Kansas City Star

A 45-year-old Kansas City, North, man known as the “bicycle bandit” was sentenced Thursday to 102 years in prison for several crimes, including robbery and assault.

In December, a Platte County jury convicted Miguel M. Vaca on seven counts, including robbery, assault and armed criminal action. Vaca earned his nickname because he used a mountain bike to flee the crimes, which occurred near Barry Road and Interstate 29 in October and November 2002. The jury recommended Vaca be sentenced to 102 years in prison.

Circuit Judge Owens Lee Hull Jr. accepted that recommendation and ordered the sentences to run consecutively.

Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said a key piece of evidence against Vaca was a dollar bill taken in his first robbery. When found later, the bill contained a handwritten confession to that crime.

According to Zahnd, Vaca committed his first crime on the evening of Oct. 21, 2002, when he came away with one dollar after robbing two women in a nail salon.

Nine days later, Vaca robbed the cleaners next to the nail salon. An employee turned over about $100 after Vaca fired a shot into the ceiling.

On Nov. 15, 2002, according to prosecutors, Vaca pushed a woman down a stairway and tried to force her into a bathroom after he came up empty on his demand for money.

Authorities said a search of Vaca's residence uncovered a black revolver, a mountain bike, a large amount of cash and the dollar bill with the handwritten message