TYLER, Texas – Two half-brothers were found guilty Friday of five armed robberies over two years, including the 2005 heist at Kelly Community FCU.
The two, Derrick Hodges, 34, and Paul Thomas, 40, are believed responsible for as many as 15 credit union and bank robberies in the southwest in which as much as $250,000 was stolen.
After the verdict, their mother left the courthouse sobbing loudly.
In the December 5, 2005 hold-up at Kelly Community, red dye packs exploded in the bag of cash after the heist, so the men left the stained bills behind with the stolen getaway pickup. A T-shirt left at the scene contained Hodges' DNA and a pair of tennis shoes in the pickup had Thomas' DNA on them. A cartridge also left in the vehicle was consistent with others found in Thomas' storage unit.
The robberies were all the same, according to prosecutors. A getaway car was stolen a day or two before, the institutions were robbed at gunpoint and the cars were driven a mile or two away to a switch site where the stolen cars were abandoned. Force and intimidation were used in all of the robberies, which happened quickly.
