CLEVELAND — Three people pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges accusing them stealing $7.4 million from an armored car company and taking the loot to a West Virginia hideout.
Nicole Boyd, 25, and her boyfriend, Roger Lee Dillon, 23, are charged with bank larceny. They and Dillon's mother, Sharon Lee Gregory, 48, are charged with conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines, and transporting and aiding and abetting in that transportation from Ohio to West Virginia.
Their trial was set for March 24.
The $4.3 million in cash and millions more in checks were taken from Armored Transportation Systems in Liberty, just north of Youngstown, where Dillon had worked as a driver for about nine months.
All three defendants declared themselves indigent, and attorneys appointed for them declined to comment, saying they had just received the cases.
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On the night of Nov. 26, when the company had cash from the busy post-Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend in the region's stores, someone entered the building using an employee's security code, then rearmed the system 24 minutes later, authorities said.
Five days later, Boyd, Dillon and Gregory were arrested at a mobile home about 250 miles away in Pipestem, W.Va.
Authorities said that before Boyd and Dillon left their Youngstown home with their cat and dog, they stopped to put the next month's rent in their landlord's mailbox along with a one-word note: "SORRY."
Investigators said they found clues in Boyd's pickup truck, including receipts from Beckley, W.Va. A retailer in that southern West Virginia city directed the FBI to nearby Pipestem, a town of 633.
The indictment says Boyd and Dillon had gone to West Virginia in October to look for a place to hide.
The three have been in custody since their arrests, and a detention hearing was set for Monday. Prosecutors are prepared to present evidence, including statements from the defendants, explaining why they should not be freed on bond.
U.S. Attorney Gary Arbeznik said he presented the defendants with a draft plea agreement, but he wouldn't elaborate on its contents.
If convicted, Boyd and Dillon face as many 25 years in prison and fines of $250,000. Gregory would face 15 years in prison. None of the three has a criminal record.
