South L.A. Man Sentenced to More than 10 Years in Federal Prison for Armed Robbery of Undercover Secret Service Agent

          LOS ANGELES – A South Los Angeles man was sentenced today to 121 months in federal prison for charges related to the armed robbery of an undercover United States Secret Service agent who was conducting an investigation into the trafficking of counterfeit money.

          Tyre Jordan Simmons, a.k.a., “Reckless,” 23, was sentenced by United States District Judge John A. Kronstadt.

          Simmons pleaded guilty in September to robbery, assault with a deadly weapon on a federal officer and using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence in relation to the March 26, 2018 incident.

          According to court documents, Simmons arranged to meet with the undercover federal agent, who was posing as a criminal who wanted to purchase counterfeit U.S. currency. But, instead of conducting a deal for bogus money, Simmons planned to rob the agent of genuine currency that Simmons expected him to bring to the illicit deal.

          During the incident, Simmons brought a duffel bag filled with clothes to simulate the appearance of counterfeit money and got into the front passenger seat of the agent’s car. When Simmons demanded to see the genuine currency, the agent retrieved $4,500 from the trunk and got back into the car, at which point Simmons pulled a loaded 9mm handgun from his bag, pointed it at the agent’s head and demanded the cash and the car keys. As Simmons was getting out of the car, other agents arrived on scene and knocked the gun and money from Simmons’s hands. Simmons escaped into the surrounding neighborhood, but he was arrested three days later.

          Simmons’s co-defendant in the case – Richard Taron Henderson, a.k.a. “Profit,” 23, also of South Los Angeles – last month was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit money, conspiracy, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon on a federal officer, and using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

          This investigation was conducted by the United States Secret Service.

          This matter was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Khaldoun Shobaki of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section.