3 charged with stealing $2M from Brink's truck amid string of heists in Philadelphia-area

USA Today

2 days ago

Three men, including a former Brink's employee, have been charged with stealing more than $2 million from an armored truck in Philadelphia, the first in a string of such heists that have occurred in the area this summer, prosecutors said Aug. 13.
Daishaun "Daisha" Hughes-Murchison, 30, Brian Wallace, 31, and Trayvine Jackson, 31, all of Philadelphia, were arrested and charged with robbery interfering with interstate commerce, and use of a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. All three had their initial court appearances last week.
Jackson has been ordered detained, and Wallace and Hughes-Murchison will have detention hearings later this week, prosecutors said. The three men are accused of carrying out a brazen robbery of a Brink's armored car on June 21 in Philadelphia's Port Richmond neighborhood.
The robbery took place at around 8 a.m. local time near a Home Depot store, according to court documents. A Brink's armored truck driver was walking down the rear alley of the store, which was part of his scheduled route, when two men approached the driver with AR-style rifles.
The men forced the driver to the ground, and took both his company-issued firearm and keys, court documents state. While one of the men stayed with the driver, the other entered the truck and stole a "significant amount of cash," prosecutors said.
The two men then fled from the scene in a black Hyundai Sonata and a third man was seen on surveillance footage following in a silver Ford Fusion, according to court documents.
Investigators later discovered that the Ford Fusion belonged to Hughes-Murchison, and the Hyundai Sonata was rented by Wallace, who returned the vehicle a few hours after the robbery. Surveillance footage showed that after returning the Hyundai Sonata, Wallace got into Hughes-Murchison's vehicle and they drove off, prosecutors said.
Cellphone records also revealed that Wallace and Jackson were in the area of the car rental site at the time, court documents alleged, and the phones of Wallace and Hughes-Murchison were also tracked to Home Depot at the time of the robbery. According to court documents, Brink's told investigators that Jackson had been a Brink's employee until he was suspended and terminated after an internal investigation.
Several Brink's armored truck robberies reported in Philadelphia-area
Following the June 21 armed robbery, police reported three other incidents involving armored transport vehicles in and around Philadelphia.
On June 26, a Loomis truck driver making a delivery at an Aldi store in the Lawncrest neighborhood of northeast Philadelphia was approached by two gunmen, CBS News and 6abc Action News reported. The suspects disarmed the driver and fled with about $1,000, according to the television stations.
Then on July 2, police said another armored truck robbery involving Brink's occurred outside a Dollar General in the Holmesburg Shopping Center in northeast Philadelphia, NBC Philadelphia reported. The suspects, including one who was armed with an AR-style rifle, attempted to access the truck but were unable to due to the vehicle's security locking system, according to the station.
And on July 15, a Brink's employee opened fire at two men whom he alleged attempted to rob him in northeast Philadelphia, NBC Philadelphia reported. The men fled from the scene, and no one was injured in the incident, according to the station.
Police investigating another armored truck robbery this week
Police in Cheltenham Township, a community bordering Philadelphia, are also investigating another armored truck robbery that occurred at around 10:28 a.m. local time on Aug. 12.
The Cheltenham Township Police Department said in a statement on social media that officers responded to a report of a robbery at an H-Mart store. Investigators determined that two suspects had robbed a Brink's armored vehicle, "escaping with a large quantity of (U.S. currency)," police said.
One suspect was armed with an AR-15-style pistol while the other was armed with a handgun, according to police. The suspects also stole the armored vehicle driver's handgun during the robbery before fleeing in a black Acura TLX.
The vehicle was later found in west Philadelphia, police said, adding there were no injuries reported in the incident.
Cheltenham police told the Associated Press and local media that the suspects stole between $700,000 and $800,000. Police are investigating whether the robbery is related to the four other recent incidents in the Philadelphia area, according to the AP and NBC News.