HSI Baltimore investigation lands Texas resident in prison for conspiring to rob ATMs

BALTIMORE — An investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore and the Baltimore County Police Department has landed a Texas resident in federal prison for two years, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen goods. Robert Reeves III, 37, of Dallas, received the sentence March 28 for breaking into businesses and stealing cash from bitcoin-related automated teller machines. As part of his sentence, Reeves must also pay restitution in the full amount of the victims’ losses, which totals more than $55,000.

According to the investigation, from August 2018 through at least mid-September 2013, Reeves, co-defendants Meleech Neugent and Brandon Davis, and other individuals conspired to travel from the Dallas area to other parts of the United States, including the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to break into businesses after they closed and steal cash from bitcoin-related ATMs.

According to the HSI Baltimore investigation, on Aug. 29, 2018, Reeves, his co-defendants and others traveled from Dallas to Dulles International Airport and rented a vehicle. In the early morning hours of Aug. 31, 2018, and Sept. 1, 2018, they used the rented vehicle to drive to locations in Rockville, Columbia and Baltimore, where they broke into four separate businesses. Once inside the business, the conspirators stole cash from ATMs.

Video surveillance from the burglary locations showed three individuals committed the acts, arriving and departing in a black Jeep Patriot with New Jersey license plates. The investigation showed that the vehicle was owned by a car rental company and that Reeves and his co-conspirators had rented it at Dulles International Airport.

The investigation further revealed that records associated with Reeves’ internet and cell phone accounts indicated that he searched for each victim’s business while he and his co-conspirators were in Maryland. On September 1, Reeves and other co-conspirators visited a shopping center in Tysons Corner, Virginia.

A video posted to co-defendant Neugent’s social media showed Neugent counting bundles of cash while purchasing shoes at a high-end designer retail store. Reeves and some co-conspirators returned to Texas, flying from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Reeves admitted that on August 23, 2018, he participated in a similar burglary in Elgin, Illinois. Specifically, Reeves and another man approached a business there while carrying prying tools. One man pried open the door and the men then pried open the ATM inside the business, removing approximately $3,000 from it.

Neugent, 40, and Davis, 35, both of Dallas, previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy. Neugent was sentenced to time served and Davis is scheduled to be sentenced on May 31.

This investigation was conducted by HSI Baltimore and the Baltimore County Police Department with significant assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

HSI encourages members of the public with knowledge of any such criminal activity to contact HSI by calling the HSI tip line at 866-347-2423. The tip line is manned 24 hours a day.

HSI is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel and finance move. HSI’s workforce of more than 8,700 employees consists of more than 6,000 special agents assigned to 237 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.