Guilty plea in attempted armored truck robbery
HAMMOND IN Aug 26 2019 A South Holland man pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon to planning an armored truck robbery foiled earlier this year by the FBI.
Delvin X. Perkins, 23, appeared before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Joshua P. Kolar to plead to a federal charge of conspiring to obstruct interstate commerce.
His co-defendant, Reilly Jackson Jr., 23, of Griffith, is set to make the same guilty plea Aug. 29 before U.S. District Judge Philip P. Simon.
Two men charged with an armored truck heist last year and an attempted robbery of a second armored car in Merrillville this year are set to plead guilty in federal court.
The two recently signed separate plea agreements in which they confess to targeting a Brinks armored truck March 18 before FBI agents and Merrillville police intercepted and arrested them outside the Aldi grocery at 10 E. U.S 30 that afternoon before they could take the money and run.
Jackson and Perkins are also expected to admit they previously looted an armored truck July 24, 2018 in Blue Island, Illinois of $537,374.
They would have faced a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine had they continued to trial and been convicted.
The U.S. Attorney’s office has agreed to recommend they receive leniency in return for their guilty pleas.
The two admit they stole $537,374 from a Thillens Cagistics armored truck July 24, 2018, through what is described as an inside job.
Jackson was employed as the driver of the armored truck, which was supposed to transport money belonging to First Midwest Bank, Bank Financial, Advanced Financial Credit Union and Illiana Federal Credit Union.
Jackson parked the armored car outside a Blue Island, Illinois business where he was supposed to service an automated teller machine before continuing on to the other financial institutions.
Instead, Jackson left its side door unlocked so Perkins could steal the money from inside the truck. The two later split the proceeds.
In an affidavit supporting charges against the pair, the government states that the FBI soon had the defendants under suspicion. Perkins matched the description of the man seen taking the cash.
Agents of the Gary Response Investigative Team had the pair under surveillance March 18 when Perkins and Jackson planned to rob a Brinks truck at gunpoint that afternoon.
The defendants were following an armored truck making stops at businesses around Merrillville and waiting to find a location where Perkins could rob the armored car driver and Jackson could drive away with its cash.
GRIT agents following the pair following the Brinks truck noticed the defendants wore dark clothing and their Jeep had a temporary license plate folded over to obscure its number.
When the agents thought a robbery was imminent, they and Merrillville police stopped the defendants at U.S. 30 near Broadway in Merrillville.
Police said both defendants were armed with handguns. Officers and agents said there was a strong odor of marijuana coming from the Jeep.
