'Hair Bandit' behind bars

[TexasStooge]

LOS ANGELES (Court TV) — The only hair that Michael Howard may be cutting in the near future will be that of fellow prison inmates.

Howard, the so-called "Hair Bandit" pleaded guilty April 3 and was sentenced to eight years in prison for cutting off the locks of nine women and a girl on the streets of Long Beach and East Los Angeles.

Howard, 48, a bicycle shop owner prior to his Jan. 1, 2002, arrest, had faced a minimum prison sentence of 13 years, four months if convicted at trial.

Howard was charged in connection with nine attacks between Dec. 4 and Dec. 31, 2001. Acting out of what authorities described as a hair fetish, Howard was accused of grabbing women from behind as they stood or walked on main streets and shearing their hair with scissors or a knife. Some of the victims suffered neck injuries.