A South Los Angeles man known by the nickname “reckless” received more than a decade in federal prison Thursday for the armed robbery of a U.S. Secret Service agent during an undercover sting operation, authorities said.
Tyre Jordan Simmons, 23, received 10 years and one month in prison in connection with the March 26, 2018, incident, U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Ciaran McEvoy said in a written statement. He pleaded guilty in September to federal charges of robbery, assault with a deadly weapon on a federal officer and using a firearm in furtherance of a crime.
The ill-fated robbery took place amid a sting in which an undercover Secret Service agent had arranged to meet Simmons to buy a duffel bag full of counterfeit cash, officials said. But Simmons decided to rob the agent instead.
Simmons filled a duffle bag with clothing to make it look like it was full of counterfeit money and gave it to the front passenger of the agent’s car, McEvoy said.
“When Simmons demanded to see the genuine currency, the agent retrieved $4,500 from the trunk and got back into the car, at which point Simmons pulled a loaded 9mm handgun from his bag, pointed it at the agent’s head and demanded the cash and the car keys,” according to McEvoy.
“As Simmons was getting out of the car, other agents arrived on scene and knocked the gun and money from Simmons’s hands,” he said. “Simmons escaped into the surrounding neighborhood, but he was arrested three days later.”
A second man charged in the case, 23-year-old Richard Taron “Profit” Henderson of South Los Angeles, was sentenced to seven and a half years in federal prison in February after pleading guilty to charges of selling counterfeit currency, conspiracy, robbery, assault with a firearm on a federal officer and using a firearm in the furtherance of a crime, officials said.
