3 charged in metro-east robbery of armored vehicle. One of them used to work for Brink’s
Three men have been arrested and federally charged in connection with an armed robbery of a Brink’s armored vehicle on Dec. 5 outside a Regions Bank in Madison before it opened.
One of the alleged robbers, Patrick D. Johnson, of St. Louis, is a former Brink’s employee who dates a current employee, according to a complaint filed against Johnson and Antonio T. Harris on Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
FBI agents reportedly interviewed Johnson’s girlfriend a week after the robbery. She’s identified in the complaint, but the BND isn’t naming her because she hasn’t been charged with a crime.
“(The girlfriend) said Johnson picked her up from work at Brink’s in the early morning hours around 2:00 a.m. and took her to his residence,” the complaint states. “(She) said Johnson was home when she woke up around 10:00 a.m. on Dec. 5th.”
The robbery occurred just before 7 a.m.
Johnson, Harris and Lee O. Griffin Jr. are all charged with one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery. Griffin was the first to be charged in a complaint filed Dec. 13.
Griffin, of Cahokia Heights, is described as the getaway driver in the complaints. He also is charged with arson for allegedly burning the stolen car used in the robbery and with possession of a weapon —Smith & Wesson 9-millimeter pistol — in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Harris and Griffin are in custody, court records show. An arrest warrant for Johnson hasn’t yet been served. Harris is scheduled for a pre-trial detention hearing on Friday. Griffin has waived his right for such a hearing.
Brink’s is a Virginia-based company that specializes in the pickup, transit and delivery of cash and other valuables.
Here’s how the two federal complaints describe the sequence of events related to the robbery:
- Employees in a Brink’s armored vehicle were servicing an ATM at Regions Bank at 600 Madison Ave. in Madison at 6:51 a.m. Dec. 5.
- They were approached by two men, later identified by federal authorities as Johnson and Harris, armed with tan and black pistols and wearing head-to-toe coverings, including blue rubber gloves and masks.
- The robbers stole a cash pack of U.S. currency from the cab of the armored vehicle and gun belts with two pistols, magazines and ammunition from the Brink’s employees.
- The robbers ran from the ATM to the front of the bank, where a 2019 gray Chevrolet Impala was parked with a man, later identified as Griffin, in the driver’s seat. They entered the vehicle, which sped away.
- Agents used license-plate-reader data to find an association between the Impala and a white 2016 Chevrolet Cruze.
- About two hours after the robbery, Griffin drove the Cruze to a Dollar General in Cahokia Heights to make a cash deposit and a BP gas station to buy a bottle of Don Julio tequila and fill up a red canister with gasoline.
- The Impala and Cruze were traveling closely in Washington Park just before the Impala was reported engulfed in flames at the corner of North 48th and Audubon streets.
- In a text thread, Harris sent Griffin a screenshot from the Facebook group Metro East Crime announcing the Brink’s robbery with the comment “Bro.” Griffin responded, “Damn that’s crazy,” and Harris wrote “Maan they out here trippin.”
- On Dec. 11, FBI agents executed a search warrant at a Cahokia Heights address where the Cruze was parked. They found a gas canister in the trunk and a bottle of Don Julio tequila in the residence.
- Griffin fled in another vehicle and crashed in Missouri, where he was arrested.
- Griffin allegedly admitted in an FBI interview that he drove the getaway car in the Brink’s robbery while carrying a black handgun, bought gas at the BP station and burned the Impala.
- Griffin’s cellphone showed texts with Harris and Johnson on the evening before and morning of the robbery, beginning at 2:42 a.m. Dec. 5.
- The FBI executed a search warrant at Johnson’s residence on Dec. 12 and seized a gun box for a tan Glock 19 pistol, ammunition and a tan Glock magazine.
“Agents also discovered paper money bands that appeared to be torn up and partially burned but were visibly stamped with (the word) Brink’s,” according to the complaint against Johnson and Harris.
