MACON, Ga. — A North Georgia man was sentenced to five years in prison for robbing a South Carolina armored bank truck of $1.9 million after being recruited by the vehicle's driver, according to federal prosecutors in South Carolina.
Terry Pollard, 28, of Cedartown was convicted by a jury for taking part in a robbery plotted by an employee of Garda, which offers security services including transporting money for businesses. The jury deliberated for just 8 minutes before finding Pollard guilty.
Prosecutors say it was an inside job formulated through the message and photo-sharing app Snapchat.
In January 2021, prosecutors say Pollard and three others would wait until the driver, 27-year-old James Sewell, parked his truck outside of a Bank of America ATM in North Charleston, South Carolina.
They would then pretend to restrain the Sewell at gunpoint and then pack $1.9 million in cash into black trash bag, the press release said. They would then immediately drive back to Cedartown, which is a city of just over 10,000 in Polk County near the Alabama-Georgia border.
But soon after the robbery, they say local authorities in North Charleston began to become suspicious of the Sewell's statements, and they then alerted the FBI of a potential inside job.
In another press release, federal prosecutors say cell phone records show Pollard and the other robbers traveled from Cedartown to Charleston and then their presence near Sewell's apartment the day before the robbery. It then shows the group heading back to Georgia after the robbery was completed.
In the hours after the robbery, prosecutors say Pollard posted a video of him holding a large stack of stolen cash in front of him.
As he was in jail awaiting trial, Pollard made a call to someone on the outside instructing them to delete his phone records, but the call was recorded, the press release says.
Pollard was the only person among the crew who went to trial with the other defendants — Sewell, Quantavius Murphy, Anthony Burge and Thomas Calhoun — pleading guilty.
Because there is no parole in the federal judicial system, Pollard will serve all 5 years of his sentence. However, Pollard faced up to 10 years in prison, but he was only sentenced to half of that.