Second man charged with fatal armored car robbery.Both suspects are former colleagues of murder victims
AUCKLAND — Authorities now believe that two former GardaWorld armored truck service employees plotted to rob one of their former colleagues and opened fire on September 7, killing the 60-year-old employee .
Artemio Torres, 27, has been charged with robbing a GardaWorld truck at San Leandro’s Kaiser building in conjunction with Akbar Bey, also 27. During the robbery, authorities claim Bay, who was arrested on murder charges in October, shot his former colleague John Mendes in the back of the head and robbed him of thousands of dollars in cash.
Police said Torres fled the state after the robbery by traveling to Ohio and Indiana. His whereabouts are still unknown.
Police say Torres is listed as an Auckland resident but has ties to the Vacaville neighborhood. His girlfriend was also arrested during the murder investigation, but was released after police determined she had been tricked into helping them after the crime, and she was unaware of their alleged involvement.
Torres and Bay were fired from GardaWorld after allegations of embezzling funds surfaced, police claim, according to court records. Bay is in Santa Rita Prison without bail. he pleaded not guilty.
Police linked Torres to the crime based on cell phone records, and Bay allegedly ran into Torres’ black Honda and fled the area shortly after the shooting. , claimed that Bay and Torres monitored truck drop-offs in anticipation of the robbery.
Court records show that Bey and Mendez were partners before Bey was fired from the company.
The shooting was one of two armored car robbery-murders in the East Bay within 30 days, the other in Oakland on September 23, where four men were killed in a Brinks truck. allegedly attempted to rob In the shooting, a Brinks employee killed one of the suspects and wounded another before being shot by one of his robbers, police say. The Brinks employee survived and a Vallejo man was arrested and charged with murder.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/12/18/san-leandro-second-man-charged-in-fatal-armored-car-robbery-both-suspects-are-former-colleagues-of-homicide-victim/ Second man charged with fatal armored car robbery.Both suspects are former colleagues of murder victims