Last Defendant Sentenced in UH Armored Car Heist

Three years to the day after a violent armored car hijacking sent shockwaves through the University of Houston campus, the final conspirator has been locked up. Allen Bernard Roundtree, 31, of Houston, was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison for his role in the brazen daylight robbery. Roundtree must also serve three years of supervised release and pay a $17,500 fine after pleading guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and aiding and abetting the same crime.

The robbery unfolded on December 6, 2013, amid final exams, when Roundtree dropped off James Van-Gerald Johnson, 33, also of Houston, near the Central Campus ATM. While the armored car’s courier serviced the machine, Johnson approached the vehicle, pistol in hand, and ordered the pregnant driver out. The side door, previously reported broken by insider Dezmond Lacraig Edwards, 26, swung open with ease. Johnson jumped behind the wheel and sped off, with Roundtree trailing in a waiting truck.

Edwards, a former Loomis guard who had driven the UH route, provided critical intelligence: the driver would be unarmed, the door defective, and the timing perfect. His betrayal turned a secure transport into a target. After the hijacking, the courier gave chase on foot and fired at the fleeing armored car, aiming for the tires. The shots missed. The vehicle was driven to a campus parking garage, where Ronald Dean Richards, 26, of Houston, waited with another car to transfer the stolen cash before the armored truck was abandoned.

Johnson was later sentenced to 125 months for aiding and abetting interference with commerce by robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. Richards, who pleaded guilty in August 2014, received 60 months. Edwards, convicted after trial on December 11, 2015, got 130 months for conspiracy and robbery. All sentences were handed down earlier this month, closing the federal case.

The FBI led a multi-agency investigation alongside the University of Houston Police Department, Texas Rangers, and Houston Police Department. The coordinated response tracked down every link in the chain, from the inside tip to the getaway plan. Prosecutors portrayed the scheme as a calculated assault on public safety, exploiting institutional trust for criminal gain.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joe Porto, Jennie Basile, and Andrew Gould handled the prosecution. U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson emphasized that no crime, especially one committed on a university campus during finals, goes unpunished for long. The sentencing of Roundtree marks the final chapter in a robbery that shocked Houston and exposed dangerous vulnerabilities in private security operations.

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