Armored car thief Heather Tallchief pleaded guilty in Nov. 2005 for her role in a heist that netted her and her ex-boyfriend, Roberto Solis, nearly $3 million dollars.
Since 2006, Tallchief has been serving a 63 month term in a federal prison in West Virginia.
However, authorities remain on the lookout for her partner-in-crime Roberto Solis.
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While Heather Tallchief is serving time for her role in an armored car heist, the manhunt continues for her partner in the crime, Roberto Solis.
Heather Tallchief, the armored car driver who disappeared on Oct. 1, 1993, along with a Loomis Armored, Inc. van filled with more than $3 million turned herself in to federal and local law enforcement in Las Vegas on Sept. 15, 2005. But her accomplice, Roberto Solis, is still on the run. The two concocted an elaborate plan and made off in what seemed like a flawless getaway.
In 1992, FBI agents say Tallchief and her roommate Roberto Solis--who was going by the alias, Julius G. Suave--moved to Mexico, where they began preparations for a major heist. Police say Solis was already familiar with the criminal world, as he had previously served 23 years in prison for murder.
By the summer of 1993, agents say Tallchief and Solis were ready to put their plan into action. They moved to Las Vegas where the FBI says they rented a warehouse and opened a fake business--Steel Reinforcement, Inc. Officials say the two then chartered a private jet that would serve as their getaway plane. And even though she had no prior experience, by the end of August, Tallchief had secured a job at Loomis as a driver.
On Oct. 1, 1993, Tallchief drove an armored van to the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino, where she dropped off two co-workers--a guard and courier--to make a delivery. Authorities say Tallchief knew she'd have a moment alone in the truck with more than $3 million. So when her co-workers went inside to arrange the drop-off, she took off. When the guard and courier came back out of the casino, the van, Tallchief and the money were nowhere in sight.
According to agents, all she had to do was drive a few blocks to the warehouse she and Suave had rented. They say she arrived there undetected along with the stolen cash. The FBI says by 10:15 a.m. Solis and Tallchief boarded a private jet and took off with only two small bags. Agents say those bags could not have held all of the stolen loot, so it's unclear how the money was transported.
The pair's apartment had been vacated the day before the robbery, and the Loomis armored van was found abandoned in Las Vegas on Oct. 13, 1993. Agents traced Tallchief and Solis to Denver the day of the heist and to Miami a week later.
After years on the run, Tallchief had a child and decided to turn herself in so he could live a normal life. She turned herself in to cops in 2005. She claimed that she had made ends meet working odd jobs in Europe, but she couldn't take running anymore.
In 2006, Tallchief was sentenced to repay $3 million in restitution and serve 63 months in federal prison.
A woman accused in the 1993 heist of a Loomis Armored car van filled with $3.15 million dollars, turned herself in to Las Vegas authorities on Sept. 15, 2005 after more than 10 years on the run. Heather Tallchief is accused of planning the elaborate heist of a loaded armored car with her boyfriend, Roberto Solis, and then taking off with the cash.
Tallchief was accompanied by her lawyer when she surrendered at U.S. District Court in Las Vegas. He said she was tired of hiding, and wanted her 10-year-old son to have a chance at living a normal life.
Tallchief told the Associated Press, "I truly feel this is the right thing to do."
Her lawyer said Solis, also accused in the heist, "brainwashed" her into participating. Tallchief eluded authorities by living under an assumed name and working as a maid and other cash-only jobs in Amsterdam her lawyer told the press. She says that after a decade on the run, she wanted her son to have a better life. Tallchief realized that the only way to ensure that that happened was to turn herself in to the authorities.
Tallchief pleaded guilty in 2005 and was sentenced in 2006 to 63 months in federal prison and ordered to pay back nearly $3 million in restitution.
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