Man, Who Was Helped by Employee, Sentenced for CU Armed Robbery

A federal judge in Los Angeles last week sentenced 30-year-old Toyrieon Sessions to 11 years in prison for his involvement as the gunman in a violent, takeover-style robbery at a credit union’s main branch where an employee helped with the planning and execution of the $300,000 cash heist, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central District of California.

During an earlier four-day trial, a jury found Sessions guilty of three felonies for his role in the armed robbery of the corporate headquarters branch in Gardena of the $1.5 billion Northrop Grumman Federal Credit Union on April 21, 2017.

Sessions was recruited as the gunman by 32-year-old Daronnie Thompkins who was the boyfriend of Iris Lester, 28. She was hired by NGFCU in 2016 and prior to that worked in the financial services industry for more than eight years, according to federal prosecutors.

During an earlier bench trial, Thompkins was convicted of conspiracy and aiding and abetting an armed bank robbery. He was sentenced to nine years in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge André Birotte. Thompkins also was ordered to pay restitution of $324,503 and four years of supervised release following his prison term.

Lester, who was charged with conspiracy and aiding and abetting an armed bank robbery, pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 18, prosecutors said.

On the day of the robbery, which federal investigators said was well planned and carefully executed, Sessions entered the office building in which the credit union is located and walked past NGFCU’s main entrance, entering a side hallway where the bathrooms were located.

Sessions waited in the men’s restroom until Lester and another NGFCU employee exited the women’s bathroom, which was the signal for the robbery to begin. At that point, Sessions left the men’s bathroom, brandished a semi-automatic handgun and used it to force Lester, who was pretending to be a victim, and the other employee to provide access to the credit union’s vault room, according to federal investigators.

Once inside the vault room, Lester and the other NGFCU employee realized they did not have the keys to open the vault. Sessions allowed Lester to exit the vault room – but, instead of escaping or notifying other employees of the robbery, Lester returned with another credit union employee who was supposed to have the vault keys but didn’t have them.

Lester then left the room a second time and retrieved the keys. After she returned to the vault, Sessions ordered her and the two other credit union employees onto their knees while pointing the handgun at each of them. That “terrorized the victims…and left them…deeply traumatized,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.

Sessions then stuffed $324,503 in a black trash bag and fled the scene in a silver Dodge Avenger.

The federal investigation revealed that a few days before the robbery, Lester told another employee that her boyfriend (Thompkins) was pressuring her to do something stupid at work that she did not want to do, but she did not elaborate. Also, prior to the robbery, Lester brought Thompkins into the credit union branch and they walked through the precise area utilized by the gunman during the robbery.

In the days and weeks following the robbery, Lester and Thompkins each bought a used Mercedes Benz, and the former credit union employee deposited tens of thousands of dollars in a JP Morgan Chase bank account and in two accounts of the $3.5 billion UNIFY Financial Federal Credit Union based in Torrance, Calif., according to federal investigators.