TEXARKANA, Texas -- A Houston man pleaded guilty Friday in Texarkana federal court to conspiracy to commit bank theft in connection with two ATM break-ins here last year.
Corde Deandre St. Jules, 20, is listed as defendant number seven in a criminal indictment pending in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas. Two others, Teddrick Solomon and Breon Rayshawn Stuard, are listed as defendants one and five respectively. The indictment remains under seal as several defendants have yet to appear in court in the case.
St. Jules entered a plea of guilty Friday at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven in Texarkana's downtown federal building. St. Jules is the only defendant to have entered a guilty plea in the case.
St. Jules conducted "surveillance" and acted as a look-out for two ATM break-ins in Bowie County, Texas, last year, according to a factual basis document filed Friday in the case. St. Jules participated in the theft Jan. 27, 2021, of $127,654 from a Texar Federal Credit Union ATM on Gibson Lane in Texarkana, Texas, and in the theft Feb. 2, 2021, of more than $10,000 from a Texar Federal Credit Union ATM on W. 7th Street in Wake Village, Texas.
As part of his plea agreement, St. Jules agreed he is responsible for $33,665 in proceeds from the conspiracy.
St. Jules was arrested after the ATM theft in Wake Village last year and has been in custody since.
St. Jules had a large number of new $20 dollar bills stuffed in his pants when he was stopped Feb. 2 in Queen City, Texas, by local police and state troopers while driving a red Camaro matching the description given to police by a witness, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Wake Village police responded to an ATM alarm in the 5100 block of W. 7th Street shortly after 5 a.m. Feb. 2. When officers arrived, they found a white Ford F-250 truck backed up to the ATM with a chain connecting it to the front of the machine, which was lying on its side on the ground.
A yellow crowbar, a chain with two J hooks and a styrofoam cup with some coffee left in it were found at the scene. Investigators determined that three of the machine's four cash drawers were missing.
While police were still at the scene of the theft, a Texarkana, Texas, investigator contacted Wake Village investigators about a red Camaro that had been stopped as it traveled south on U.S. Highway 59 by Queen City police and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers.
St. Jules was driving the Camaro and gave a fictitious name to law enforcement. Todd Aultman of Wake Village Police Department and Texas Ranger Josh Mason interviewed St. Jules at the Cass County Sheriff's Office.
"St. Jules acted as if he wanted to cooperate but wanted a guarantee he would go home today," the affidavit states.
The bills found in St. Jules' pants were brand new, uncirculated currency with sequential serial numbers.
"There have been multiple ATM thefts fitting this method of operation in the Northeast Texas region over the past few weeks. Information from other thefts have concluded the suspects were gang members from Houston, Texas," the affidavit states.
The Ford F-250 used in the January theft had been stolen from a motel parking lot in Texarkana, Arkansas, and the Ford F-250 used in the February theft had been stolen from a motel parking lot in Texarkana, Texas, according to the factual basis.
St. Jules will return to court for sentencing in several months.