Jury convicts Georgia man in 2021 North Charleston armored truck robbery

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A federal jury convicted a Cedartown, Georgia, man of conspiring with four others in a January 2021 $1.9 million staged armed robbery.

Terry Tyrone Pollard, 27, was convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit bank larceny and bank larceny.

Prosecutors presented evidence that James Sewell, 27, of North Charleston, a Garda armored truck driver, recruited Pollard and three others, Quantavius Murphy, 22, Anthony Burge, 24, and Thomas Calhoun, 21, all of Cedartown, Georgia; to stage a robbery.

“After formulating the plan over Snapchat, Pollard, Murphy, Burge, and Calhoun traveled from Cedartown to Sewell’s apartment in North Charleston on Jan. 15, 2021,” First Assitatnt U.S. Attorney Brook Andrews said. “Later that day, they drove around North Charleston looking for the best location to stage the theft.

The following day, prosecutors say Sewell parked his truck full of money outside an ATM in North Charleston where Pollard and the other codefendants approached Sewell, pretended to restrain him at gunpoint and loaded $1.9 million in cash into black trash bags and immediately fled back to Cedartown.

Investigators were able to determine the codefendants’ cell phone numbers and obtain cell site location data from service providers, Andrews said.

“The cell site location data confirmed the codefendants’ path of travel from Cedartown in the early morning hours of Jan. 15, their location in the vicinity of Sewell’s apartment the day before the theft, and their joint path of travel back to Cedartown following the theft on Jan. 16,” Andrews said.

Prosecutors told the jury that several hours after the bank larceny, Calhoun posted a Snapchat video of Pollard holding a large stack of stolen cash in front of his face.

The jury deliberated for eight minutes before returning a guilty verdict against Pollard on both counts of the indictment.

“Prosecuting violent crime is one of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s top priority,” United States Attorney Adair F. Boroughs said. “We appreciate the work of the FBI, North Charleston Police Department, and Cedartown Police Department in this case and their commitment to holding these defendants accountable.”

Pollard faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of $500,000 in addition to restitution for money stolen during the incident. U.S. District Judge Bruce Hendricks will sentence Pollard and his codefendants after reviewing pre-sentencing reports from the U.S. Probation office.

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