Massive money heist fails due to large amount of cash: “Extremely stupid,” say police officers; Former Colorado football star arrested

Devin Aguilar, a high school all-state football star from Colorado who had a standout career at the University of Washington and a brief NFL career, was released from the Arapahoe County Jail last month after serving less than a year After serving time behind bars for an armed assault, the $1.2 million heist resembled a Hollywood movie, according to police investigators.

“It was perfectly staged. He knew exactly what he was doing,” said Arapahoe County sheriff’s detective. Brett Cohn is referring to the 2021 robbery, which has not been previously reported.

“There is no such thing as a perfect crime,” Cohn said. “This was definitely not the perfect crime,” Cohn stated. “It’s 100% an inside job.”

According to police reports, interviews, court records and videos of the robbery obtained by CBS News Colorado, Aguilar, 35, secretly followed a cash truck with a gun as it pulled into a business in Arapahoe County on Dec. 1, 2021 with the money for marijuana- Transported and stored at companies throughout the state. The driver of the van had no idea that someone had followed her into the company’s garage that night. She had $1,224,785.37 cash in the van.

Surveillance video shows Aguilar, dressed head to toe in black, gloves and a mask, surprising the driver of the van and holding her at gunpoint. He has her fill two large black plastic trash bags with cash. At some point, the driver of the van said Aguilar cocked the gun. Within minutes, Aguilar runs out of the garage with the money bags.

But Cohn says there was a problem: “He couldn’t carry the money. It was too hard for him. They didn’t calculate the weight,” Cohn observed.

After the truck driver called 911, Arapahoe County officials found the two abandoned trash bags under a tree about 650 yards from the store.

Aguilar was gone in the night but made another crucial mistake. The gloves he wore during the robbery were found in one of the trash bags.

Cohn said an analysis of the gloves revealed Aguilar’s DNA, which was already on file with law enforcement because Aguilar was allegedly involved in a previous burglary in Adams County.

“Extremely stupid,” Cohn said. “You can plan meticulously for six months, but obviously mistakes were made.”

It didn’t take long for investigators to conclude it was an inside job and linked Aguilar to an employee of the cash-in-transit company. Fawn Huya, 54, was the lead cashier at the cash-in-transit company and later admitted to investigators that she had a close relationship with Aguilar. She claimed she had no idea Aguilar planned to rob the business, but investigators found detailed plans and sketches by Aguilar for the robbery on Huya’s phone. They said Huya filmed the store on her phone to help Aguilar with the robbery.

Huya, who had no criminal record prior to this case, declined an interview with CBS News Colorado. Aguilar also declined an interview request.

Investigators said Huya repeatedly lied to them about her involvement in the case and her connection to Aguilar. She eventually agreed to a plea deal and pleaded guilty to armed robbery. She was sentenced to six months in prison and six years probation.

Prosecutors agreed to a deal that allowed Aguilar to plead guilty to theft and aggravated robbery and asked the judge to sentence Aguilar to 15 to 20 years in prison.

“I do not believe that based on what is before the court now, the court should return the defendant (Aguilar) back into the community to continue to cause harm,” prosecutor Elizabeth Desits said in announcing the sentence.

Instead, Judge Joseph Whitfield sentenced Aguilar to one year in prison and nine years of probation. Aguilar served less than seven months of his one-year sentence.

Cohn told CBS News Colorado: “We are disappointed in the conviction. It is not what we believe the suspect deserved and we do not believe the victims received justice for the crime committed against them.”

The cash-in-transit company’s chief communications officer wrote: “We are very disappointed with the verdict in this case. Disappointed but not surprised,” and he said the judge was “soft on crime. We still rely on our justice system and our hope that justice will be fair and equitable for all involved… But I think that hope is fading.”

The employee who was robbed at gunpoint says she has “suffered from panic attacks and paranoia” since the robbery.

She said she is currently undergoing therapy for “everyday anxiety” and has installed security cameras in her home.

“I believe his current sentence is not appropriate,” she wrote, and that without a harsher sentence, Aguilar “will escalate.”

Messages left by Judge Whitfield at his office were not returned.

The assault and subsequent prison sentence for Devin Aguilar represents a significant departure from his high school days in Colorado. He was a star receiver at Mullen High School and led the football team to three consecutive 5A state titles. From 2008 to 2011, he played wide receiver for the Washington Huskies, where he ranked seventh in Huskies history in career receptions and receiving yards.

Aguilar briefly played for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans in 2012, appearing in at least one preseason game before apparently being dropped by the team.

CBS News Colorado contacted half a dozen of Aguilar’s former high school teammates and coaches in Colorado. No one knew that Aguilar had been arrested and imprisoned this year.

At the sentencing, Stephen McCrohan, Aguilar’s lawyer, said: “He is embarrassed that he has failed his family, his community and himself by doing something that was out of character.”

Aguilar spoke to the judge and said, “…I take full responsibility. I was ashamed, but I’m no longer ashamed because the responsibility has been taken… I’m ready for another opportunity.”