A Maryland man held on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm also is suspected of being one of the gunmen in the December shootout and robbery of $245,000 from an armored truck in Laurel, the FBI confirmed.
Derrick Simmons was indicted on the gun charge Jan. 5 after Laurel police discovered a pistol in his Greenbelt home Dec. 4, the day after authorities suspect he and others robbed the armored truck outside a Bank of America. The suspects exchanged gunfire with guards as they fled in Simmons’ black Chevrolet Suburban, police said. The sport utility vehicle’s back window was blown out by the gunfire.
According to a sworn statement by FBI agent James Mollica filed Dec. 18 in Maryland’s U.S. District Court, two masked men approached an armed guard; one man brandishing a rifle, the other a handgun. The suspect with the handgun ordered the guard to drop a canvas bag, and the two men made off with it and the $245,000 inside.
FBI Baltimore Field Office spokesman Richard Wolf said Friday that Simmons is “being looked at as part of that robbery,” but declined to go beyond the details of Mollica’s statement.
The Chevrolet, Mollica wrote, was co-owned by Simmons and his mother. Simmons is on probation from the District of Columbia for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He has a long criminal arrest history, including robbery with a deadly weapon.
The Chevrolet’s registration indicates the owners live in an apartment in Largo, but the probation office has Simmons living in Greenbelt, where Laurel police found the gun, Simmons’ attorney, Brian McDaniel wrote in a Feb. 17 court filing.
McDaniel wants the gun’s discovery to be thrown out because of the discrepancy in the addresses. Police, McDaniel wrote, could not use the Chevrolet’s alleged presence at the crime scene to search the Greenbelt home. McDaniel did not return calls for comment.
Since Simmons’ indictment, the FBI has searched the Greenbelt apartment and one of his cars. According to the search warrant from the apartment, the FBI found notes about setting up offshore tax shelters. A Jan. 15 search of a Mercedes-Benz registered to Simmons led to the discovery of $6,700 in cash and a Gucci bag.
The FBI is searching for the other robbery suspects.
