Former armored truck driver headed to prison for staging phony robbery
Published 5:50 pm Monday, September 20, 2021
A former armored truck driver admitted he staged a phony robbery with two others in Alabama was sentenced to two years in federal prison Monday.
Jonah Bessard, 26, had pleaded guilty earlier this year to the Jan. 5 scheme, according to WALA-TV. The sentencing judge, U.S. District Judge William Steele, also recommended that Bessard participate in a substance abuse program, the station reported.
His plea agreement says the former Brink’s driver separated bags of large-denomination bills from others. When he made a stop to buy coffee, two accomplices rushed him, threw him to the ground and made off with bags containing close to $500,000.
Three days after the robbery, investigators found $120,470 in a storage unit registered to Bessard. Court records indicate that the Jan. 5 robbery totaled $489,000. In addition, Bessard admitted, he stole another $134,700 since beginning his job with Brink’s. The federal judge ordered Bessard to pay back the money he stole.
Bessard also faces state charges in Mobile County Circuit Court, along with his girlfriend Sierra Briannia Overton and his brother Isaiah Campbell.