In a white-walled interrogation room in a small Virginia police station last June, two detectives were trying to get Herson Torres to crack. Surveillance video tied him to two attempted bank robberies in the area during the past week. The skinny 21-year-old didnt have a criminal record and seemed nervous, but he wasnt talking. The detectives showed him pictures of his brother and father. They told Torres he could be sent to prison for as many as 25 years.
H. Torres
If I tell you, youre not going to believe me, Torres said. He was crying as he told them an incredible story about being recruited by the Defense Intelligence Agency to participate in a secret operation testing the security of Washington-area banks. He said hed been assigned to rob a half-dozen banks over four days. And he told them about Theo, the man who hired him and gave all the orderseven though Torres had never met him.
Angry, his interrogators accused him of making up a ridiculous story. Still, Torres persuaded them to look at the text and e-mail messages on his cell phone; he also gave them the password to his Facebook (FB) account and urged them to retrieve a copy of the Defense Intelligence Agency immunity letter from his glove compartment. The police locked up Torres on a charge of attempted robbery and examined the evidence. By the end of the night, they werent sure what was going on, but they suspected Torres might be telling the truth.
Torress unlikely entry into the covert world of retail bank security testing had begun seven days earlier, he said. He had returned home from unloading trucks at Target (TGT) when his phone lit up with a text message from an old friend. Hey, I got this job for you where youre going to get paid 25K, Carolina Villegas wrote. Doing what? Torres asked. Robbing banks, she texted.
STORY: Miami Heist: The Brink's Money Plane Job's Messy Aftermath
Torres started laughing. Is this a joke? he wondered. Soon Villegas was on the phone explaining that it was a government job. And it was legal.
The thought of making $25,000 was seductive to Torres, who was earning $11 an hour at Target. Since graduating from high school in 2008, Torres, who goes by the nickname Geo, hadnt changed much. He spent most of his time hanging out with friends, collecting Batman comic books, and working part-time jobs. Twenty-five thousand dollars would be enough to start community college and move out of his parents house.
Three hours after talking to Villegas, Torres was climbing into her gray Jeep Cherokee in a Dicks Sporting Goods parking lot in Baileys Crossroads, Va. He hadnt seen her since high school, though the two had been chatting on Facebook recently. Villegas was a supply specialist in the U.S. Army Reserve and also worked as a cashier at a Carters baby clothing store, according to Torres, police, and the military. (Villegas declined to comment for this story.) When Torres arrived, Villegas was talking on her phone while writing down text messages. She was wearing a black glove on her right hand. Her Army fatigues and combat boots were in the back seat.
Villegas introduced Torres to the man on the phone, Theo. He didnt offer a last name. Theo said he worked for the government and was recruiting Torres to test the defenses of Washington-area banks. The plan was simple: Theo would tell him which bank to target, and Torres would give a manager a note demanding money. Armed security officers, threats to call the police, or a wait that exceeded five minutes would be cause to flee. If he left with money, hed be paid $25,000. Successful or not, he was guaranteed $2,500 for taking part. Torres would deliver any money recovered to a location near Richmond. If arrested, Torres should stay silent. Federal authorities would get him out in 24 hours.
Is this real? Torres asked. Theo was reassuring: The entire operation was government-approved. Torres was even vetted before being approached, Theo said, mentioning a misdemeanor theft charge against Torres for stealing from a J.C. Penney store when he was 15.
Torres said he was in. To his surprise, the operation started immediately. He put on the hooded sweatshirt Villegas had asked him to bring, and she drove him to a strip mall three miles away. The hoodie would hide his face and cover the ambigram-style Breathe Music tattoo on his forearm.
Torres was sweating as he entered the SunTrust (STI) branch in Alexandria, Va. As Theo instructed, Torres wore a single black glove to avoid leaving fingerprints. Keeping his head down, he handed the manager the note: I need your help. I need money. My family is being held hostage and a bomb will go off at 4:30 if you dont help. Dont call the police or the FBI.
more here:
http://www.businessweek.com/article...irfax-county-robbing-banks-for-the-cia#r=read
H. Torres
If I tell you, youre not going to believe me, Torres said. He was crying as he told them an incredible story about being recruited by the Defense Intelligence Agency to participate in a secret operation testing the security of Washington-area banks. He said hed been assigned to rob a half-dozen banks over four days. And he told them about Theo, the man who hired him and gave all the orderseven though Torres had never met him.
Angry, his interrogators accused him of making up a ridiculous story. Still, Torres persuaded them to look at the text and e-mail messages on his cell phone; he also gave them the password to his Facebook (FB) account and urged them to retrieve a copy of the Defense Intelligence Agency immunity letter from his glove compartment. The police locked up Torres on a charge of attempted robbery and examined the evidence. By the end of the night, they werent sure what was going on, but they suspected Torres might be telling the truth.
Torress unlikely entry into the covert world of retail bank security testing had begun seven days earlier, he said. He had returned home from unloading trucks at Target (TGT) when his phone lit up with a text message from an old friend. Hey, I got this job for you where youre going to get paid 25K, Carolina Villegas wrote. Doing what? Torres asked. Robbing banks, she texted.
STORY: Miami Heist: The Brink's Money Plane Job's Messy Aftermath
Torres started laughing. Is this a joke? he wondered. Soon Villegas was on the phone explaining that it was a government job. And it was legal.
The thought of making $25,000 was seductive to Torres, who was earning $11 an hour at Target. Since graduating from high school in 2008, Torres, who goes by the nickname Geo, hadnt changed much. He spent most of his time hanging out with friends, collecting Batman comic books, and working part-time jobs. Twenty-five thousand dollars would be enough to start community college and move out of his parents house.
Three hours after talking to Villegas, Torres was climbing into her gray Jeep Cherokee in a Dicks Sporting Goods parking lot in Baileys Crossroads, Va. He hadnt seen her since high school, though the two had been chatting on Facebook recently. Villegas was a supply specialist in the U.S. Army Reserve and also worked as a cashier at a Carters baby clothing store, according to Torres, police, and the military. (Villegas declined to comment for this story.) When Torres arrived, Villegas was talking on her phone while writing down text messages. She was wearing a black glove on her right hand. Her Army fatigues and combat boots were in the back seat.
Villegas introduced Torres to the man on the phone, Theo. He didnt offer a last name. Theo said he worked for the government and was recruiting Torres to test the defenses of Washington-area banks. The plan was simple: Theo would tell him which bank to target, and Torres would give a manager a note demanding money. Armed security officers, threats to call the police, or a wait that exceeded five minutes would be cause to flee. If he left with money, hed be paid $25,000. Successful or not, he was guaranteed $2,500 for taking part. Torres would deliver any money recovered to a location near Richmond. If arrested, Torres should stay silent. Federal authorities would get him out in 24 hours.
Is this real? Torres asked. Theo was reassuring: The entire operation was government-approved. Torres was even vetted before being approached, Theo said, mentioning a misdemeanor theft charge against Torres for stealing from a J.C. Penney store when he was 15.
Torres said he was in. To his surprise, the operation started immediately. He put on the hooded sweatshirt Villegas had asked him to bring, and she drove him to a strip mall three miles away. The hoodie would hide his face and cover the ambigram-style Breathe Music tattoo on his forearm.
Torres was sweating as he entered the SunTrust (STI) branch in Alexandria, Va. As Theo instructed, Torres wore a single black glove to avoid leaving fingerprints. Keeping his head down, he handed the manager the note: I need your help. I need money. My family is being held hostage and a bomb will go off at 4:30 if you dont help. Dont call the police or the FBI.
more here:
http://www.businessweek.com/article...irfax-county-robbing-banks-for-the-cia#r=read