Armored car heist, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade has repeatedly warned criminals that if they commit federal gun crimes in metro Detroit, they’re going to do hard time.

This week’s sentencing of two armored car robbers who used some of their stolen loot on a shopping spree at the Somerset Collection in Troy proved her point.

One of them is going to prison for more than 12 years – the other for 10 years for a $300,000 armored car heist in which the suspects used some of the cash on designer clothes and jewelry at the Somerset Collection in Troy, prosecutors said. Another $150,000 of the stolen money, they said, was found hidden in a bedroom closet.

David Simpson, 22, of Detroit was sentenced on Wednesday to 147 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds. His accomplice, Deondre Washington, 21, of Detroit, received a 128-month sentence on Thursday.

“I want criminals to take note that we are focusing federal resources on cases of violent crime like this one because we can obtain significant prison sentences. In the federal system, sentences are stiff and there is no parole,” McQuade said.

The two pleaded guilty last November to armed robbery and firearm charges for their roles in the heist, which was partly an inside job.

Simpson, records show, was employed by Total Armored Car Service and had become familiar with one of the truck’s routes. On July 8, records show, he recruited Washington and a third man, Fred Daniels, to rob one of Total's trucks while it was parked at a scheduled stop in Sterling Heights.

According to prosecutors, the armored truck driver was forced from the truck at gunpoint, and Simpson and Washington stole the truck and more than $300,000.

The FBI, working in connection with Total Armored Car management, arrested Simpson and Washington a few days later, records show.

Some of the stolen money was recovered but not before thousands of dollars were spent on designer clothes and jewelry at the Somerset Collection in Troy, records show.

Some of the money, $150,000, also turned up in the bedroom closet of the ringleader’s girlfriend, records show.

That girlfriend, Kierra Lovelady, also was charged in the case for lying to a federal agent about the money, safe and whereabouts of her boyfriend, Simpson, the lead defendant, records show.

Prosecutors said a safe containing $150,000 was hidden in the woman’s bedroom closet. She was sentenced to two years' probation.

The third accomplice, Daniels, who drove the other two to the robbery scene, pleaded guilty Feb. 14 and is awaiting sentencing.

Source: freep