Long Prison Term for Series of Kidnap-Robberies

MILWAUKEE – A daring bandit who gained access to several credit unions and check-cashing businesses by breaking into employees' homes and threatening them or kidnaping loved ones was sentenced yesterday to 41 years in federal prison. Among the robberies committed by Lamar Ray, 28, was the December 2002 heist at Educators CU, when he kidnaped vice president Julie Loyo from her West Milwaukee home at gunpoint and bound her husband and five-year-old daughter. The husband, Hector Loyo was able to contact police by dialing 911 with his tongue, but not before Ray had forced his wife to open the cash vault at the credit union and empty it out. In another robbery, he broke into the house of the manager of Cashland Check Cashing, telling the man his son had been kidnaped and wouldn't be returned until he turned over money from his workplace. The manager turned over the money, then learned his son actually had not been kidnaped.