A Brooklyn man on Monday pleaded guilty to robbing a Brinks armored truck that was transporting money to a Bank of America branch in broad daylight in Queens.
David Ortiz, who also resides in Texas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank robbery, bank robbery, and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence in
connection with the robbery of the truck, according to Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
According to court filings and statements made during the plea hearing, on the morning of June 2, 2025 at approximately 8:43am, Ortiz and an accomplice, both wearing masks and armed with guns, staged an ambush outside a Bank of America branch located at 205-02 Linden Blvd. The pair arrived before the scheduled cash delivery and waited for Brinks employees to transport money from an armored truck into the bank, according to prosecutors.
When the employees began wheeling a bag of cash toward the bank entrance, Ortiz brandished a firearm, ordered the employees to the ground, and stole the service weapon of one of the armored car guards. At the same time, Ortiz’s accomplice loaded the bag containing approximately $542,000 into a Chevrolet sport utility vehicle which did not have license plates. The two men then fled with the stolen cash, prosecutors said.
Later, NYPD officers recovered a mask, a jacket, and a firearm discarded by Ortiz in the vicinity of Hilburn Avenue and Dunkirk Street. The stolen cash has not been recovered and Ortiz’s accomplice remains at large, according to prosecutors.
“The defendant planned and carried out a violent armed robbery in broad daylight, threatening Brinks armored truck employees with a firearm while stealing more than half a million dollars destined for a neighborhood bank,” Nocella said in a statement. “This calculated crime may have looked like a scene out a movie, but it was terrifyingly real, and placed the victims in fear for their lives."
When sentenced, Ortiz faces a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment for brandishing a firearm, in addition to any sentence imposed for the bank robbery charges, and restitution.
