Judge sentences St. Louis man for embezzlement of bank funds and conspiracy to embezzle bank funds

ST. LOUIS – United States District Judge Rodney W. Sippel sentenced Malik Ross to 120 months in prison today. The 24-year-old St. Louis, Missouri resident pleaded guilty in August to one count of embezzlement of bank funds and one count of conspiracy to embezzle bank funds.

Ross was employed by Garda World Logistics, Inc. (“Garda”) who contracted with Midwest Regional Bank to transport its federally insured deposits. Ross admitted that, on August 13, 2019, while his co-employee was inside a building in the Soulard neighborhood conducting Garda business, he drove a Garda armored car from that location to South Broadway in the City of St. Louis where he placed a bag containing $50,000 in the middle of the road. A conspirator, in turn, retrieved the bag from the street and left the area with the money. The $50,000 in the bag belonged to Midwest Regional Bank, who was insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.  

At sentencing, the United States requested an upward variance from the 8-14 month applicable sentencing guideline range and presented evidence that, on the day before the theft, Ross, wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a loaded Glock firearm, shot a firearm 14 times when he came in contact with two other individuals in the residential area of the 3500 block of 14^th Street. The district court found, by a preponderance of evidence, Ross was not acting in self-defense at the time and, in firing those shots, he killed a seven-year-old boy who was playing in the alley behind his house. As a result of this evidence, the district court granted the motion of the United States for an upward variance and sentenced Ross to a 120-month term of imprisonment for the theft.

This St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Allison Behrens is handling the case.

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