Ex-Brinks driver sentenced to 20 years in prison for armored car robberies

Ex-Brinks driver sentenced to 20 years in prison for armored car robberies

Ex-Brinks driver sentenced to 20 years in prison for armored car robberies

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Georgia
25 February 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Savannah man is last of three defendants in violent crime spree

SAVANNAH, GA: A former Brinks, Inc., driver has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for his role in staging a pair of armored-car robberies in 2016.

Victor Natson, 28, of Savannah, was sentenced to 240 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. Natson also was ordered to pay restitution of $34,740 and to serve five years of supervised release after completion of his sentence. There is no parole in the federal system.

Natson was convicted in May 2018 along with Savannah resident Joshua Scott, 23, of conspiring to interfere with interstate commerce by robbing armored trucks. In addition, Natson was convicted of aiding and abetting robbery, attempted robbery, and the discharge and brandishing of firearms during crimes of violence, while Scott was convicted of robbery and firearm brandishing charges.

Scott previously was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while a third defendant, Gregory Lamar Plair, 33, who pled guilty in the case, was sentenced to eight years in prison.

According to the evidence presented at trial, during the summer of 2016, Natson recruited Plair, a career criminal and gang member, to rob armored trucks operated by Brinks, Inc. After Natson encouraged Plair to commit the robberies, Plair sought the assistance of his cousin, Scott, who Plair knew had access to stolen firearms. Natson had worked for Brinks as a truck driver for nearly two years and provided Scott and Plair with information about Brinks’ routes, personnel, and procedures. On October 14, 2016, Natson drove the robbers to the intersection of White Bluff Road and Tibet Avenue so they could rob Brinks employees servicing a SunTrust ATM. The trio stole approximately $35,000 and fired one gunshot during the robbery. Natson received a share of the money and drove the getaway car. On January 30, 2017, at Natson’s direction, Scott and Plair attempted to rob a Brinks armored truck parked at a storage facility near Abercorn Street and Truman Parkway. When Scott and Plair accosted the driver, another Brinks employee shot and wounded both would-be robbers. Plair drove himself to St. Joseph’s Hospital for treatment; Scott was transported to Memorial Medical Center by ambulance. Both men were arrested shortly thereafter.

“Natson’s two-decade sentence wraps up the prosecution of an ill-conceived, short-lived and violent crime spree in which, fortunately, only the criminals were injured,” said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. “Three predators are now locked away with a warning to other would-be criminals that no matter what kind of schemes they concoct, law enforcement and prosecutors will work that much harder to put them behind bars.”

“Natson felt his knowledge of the armored car company he worked for would lead him to illicit gains, but instead it opened the doors of a prison cell for a lengthy sentence behind bars,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “We are fortunate that no innocent victims were hurt as a result of his selfish desire for wealth.”

The investigation of Natson, Scott, and Plair’s crimes was led by FBI Southeast GA Violent Crimes Task Force, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia and the Savannah Police Department, with assistance from the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Marshals Service, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia Southern University Police Department, the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, and the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office.

Contact:
For any questions, please contact Barry Paschal at the United States Attorney’s Office at (912) 652-4422.

Press Release Number:
22-19