Four Houston gang members stand convicted in a violent crime spree that racked up more than $300,000 from ATM heists and juggings across southeast Texas.
Charles Bernard Byrd, 34, known as “Doughboy,” was found guilty on March 5 after a four-day federal trial of conspiracy to commit bank robbery and aiding and abetting bank robbery. His co-defendants — Kendrick Douglas Warren, 38, known as “Bullet,” Derrick Deshaun Brooks, 36, known as “D-Brooks,” and Derramy Deonita Foster, 42 — pleaded guilty before trial.
Evidence at Byrd’s trial detailed a conspiracy from October 1 to December 31, 2024, that involved juggings, burglaries, auto thefts, and two brazen ATM robberies targeting repair technicians in Beaumont.
Jugging refers to a burglary or robbery targeting victims who have been observed leaving a bank or other financial business and are believed to be carrying cash or valuables.
On October 8, 2024, at about 4:45 p.m., Brooks and Foster, masked and gloved, shoved an ATM repairman aside in the drive-through of a PNC Bank on Phelan Boulevard. They grabbed $153,000 in cash and fled in a black sedan toward Interstate 10, finishing the robbery in under 20 seconds. Security video captured the theft, but produced no immediate leads.
The thieves committed another robbery on New Year’s Eve around 1:15 p.m. Brooks and Warren, also masked and gloved, rushed an ATM technician at the drive-through of Education First Federal Credit Union on Laurel Avenue. They ordered him to “move” and seized $146,000 before speeding off in a stolen red SUV, again in less than 20 seconds.
Fifteen minutes later, a Beaumont police officer found the abandoned SUV in a nearby lot with its license plate removed. License plate reader images traced it back, and investigators linked it to a black 2018 truck registered to Brooks that had caravaned with the SUV from Houston. The truck sped west on I-10 minutes after the heist.
Beaumont police enlisted the Houston Police Department Criminal Apprehension Team, which stopped the truck more than 80 minutes post-robbery as it exited I-10 in Houston. Byrd drove, with Warren and Brooks inside. Officers recovered a bag holding exactly $146,000 in cash, gloves matching those from the robbery, and a temporary Texas paper license plate seen earlier on the SUV.
One hour before the New Year’s Eve ATM theft, the group had jugged a customer leaving Chase Bank on Dowlen Road. They tailed her truck to a nearby HEB, smashed a window, and ransacked it while she shopped inside.
Further probes tied all four to Houston’s 100% Third Ward gang, also called the 103 gang, operating out of the city’s Third Ward neighborhood, according to evidence presented.
Sentencing awaits pre-sentence investigations by the U.S. Probation Office. Byrd and Warren each face up to 25 years in federal prison. Brooks faces up to 45 years on conspiracy and two bank robbery counts. Foster faces up to 20 years.
The case drew investigators from the Beaumont Police Department, Houston Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, Memorial Villages Police Department, West University Police Department, Shiner Police Department, and the FBI.