A 23-year-old South Los Angeles man was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in federal prison for robbing an undercover U.S. Secret Service agent at gunpoint.
Tyre Jordan “Reckless” Simmons pleaded guilty last September to robbery, assault with a deadly weapon on a federal officer and using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence stemming from the March 26, 2018, crime.
According to court documents, Simmons arranged to meet with the undercover federal agent, who was posing as a criminal who wanted to purchase counterfeit U.S. currency. But instead of conducting a deal for bogus money, Simmons planned to rob the agent of genuine currency that Simmons expected him to bring to the illicit deal.
Simmons brought a duffel bag filled with clothes to simulate the appearance of counterfeit money and got into the front passenger seat of the agent’s car. 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 Taurus 9mm handgun from his bag, pointed it at the agent’s head and demanded the cash and the car keys, court papers show.
As Simmons was getting out of the car, other agents arrived on scene and knocked the gun and money from Simmons’ hands. He escaped into the surrounding neighborhood, but was arrested three days later.
Simmons’ co-defendant– Richard Taron “Profit” Henderson, 23, of South Los Angeles — was sentenced last month to 7 1/2 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to selling counterfeit money, conspiracy, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon on a federal officer, and using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.