Soccer Star, Boyfriend Plead Guilty in Robbery

A college soccer star from Newbury Park and her boyfriend have pleaded guilty to federal charges in the robbery of a Westlake Village bank days before Christmas.

Tabetha Sue Garibay, 21 pleaded guilty in federal court April 22 to one count of driving a getaway car after the robbery. In pleading guilty, she admitted that she and her boyfriend, Todd Hoult, 23, participated in the Dec. 14 takeover robbery of Coast Federal Bank.

But implicating Hoult was not her motivation for agreeing to the plea, defense attorney Shawn Perez said Monday.

“She agreed to the plea offer because they were offering Todd a plea agreement too,� said Perez, noting that the two are still a couple. “She would not turn on Todd.�

Hoult pleaded guilty to a single count of bank robbery in federal court Monday.

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Although Garibay faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, Perez said she probably will not be sent to prison when she is sentenced July 8. Garibay will probably receive a 12-to-18-month sentence in a halfway house while Hoult will probably get an eight-year prison term when he is sentenced July 29, Perez said.

The Newbury Park High School alumna dropped out of Pepperdine University after her arrest in February, Perez said. Hoult, who used to live in Simi Valley and attended Moorpark College, graduated from Agoura High in 1991 after winning the California Interscholastic Federation Division I wrestling championship.

Garibay was a sophomore and a starter on Pepperdine’s soccer team at the time of her arrest. “She intends to go back to school,� Perez said. She is currently working for a telemarketing firm, Perez said.

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Hoult admitted to pulling a black ski mask over his face and ordering three employees to the floor before robbing the bank of nearly $9,000 while Garibay waited outside in her parents’ 1985 gold Corvette. Hoult told authorities he brandished a pellet gun during the robbery.

Investigators found the Corvette abandoned in a nearby shopping center the day of the robbery, FBI Special Agent Gary Auer said. But because Hoult wore a ski mask during the robbery, FBI agents were left without an eyewitness to the heist or any physical evidence. Instead, two agents faced a “long and tedious investigation,� Auer said.

Their big break came when they traced a specially marked $5 bill taken in the robbery to Hoult in Las Vegas, who was wired money by a friend. FBI agents wouldn’t say how the friend got the money.

“It was sort of like finding a needle in a haystack,� Auer said. “That was really the linchpin� of the case. The $5 bill is the only money recovered from the robbery, Auer said.

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Federal officials arrested Hoult in January in Ventura County Jail, where he was being held for allegedly violating terms of his probation on an unconnected burglary conviction. Garibay was arrested the next month after agents were finally able to establish that she was the driver of the car.

“I have no idea why they did it,� federal prosecutor Andre Birotte Jr. said.