A career thief and burglar has been sentenced to life in prison in Montgomery County following his conviction for stealing from a Conroe bank’s ATMs in 2018.
A jury on Tuesday convicted Robert Alan Cordray, 56, of Houston for his role in the Sept. 14, 2018 theft from three ATMs at the Bank of America in Conroe, according to a news release from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office
Conroe police officers responding to an alarm spotted Cordray’s truck leaving the area and stopped it for multiple traffic violations. Officers observed a large amount of cash on the passenger floor board, a crowbar and a gas-powered circular saw, the news release said. Surveillance camera images showed Cordray’s clothes matched those of one of the thieves.
Prosecutors told jurors that Cordray has more than 20 separate convictions for offenses including burglary of a home and post office, theft, forgery, mail theft and tampering with a government record.
“Cordray’s criminal history dates back more than 30 years and consists of at least six trips to the State penitentiary and three trips to the Federal penitentiary,” prosecutors said in the news release, noting that his last conviction in 2013 was for a $40,000 theft in Harris County; he served five years of a 25-year sentence before being “released back on the streets.”
“This verdict once again underscores the idea that the conduct displayed by this defendant simply will not be tolerated by law enforcement and the citizens of Montgomery County,” Assistant District Attorney Adam McLane said, according to the news release.
The Montgomery County DA’s office often touts its lengthy sentences, including a 60-year sentence for forgery this month for a repeat offender from Porter; a 40-year sentence for an 18-year-old convicted of aggravated robbery of a Verizon store last year; and life sentences in 2017 and 2016 to repeat DWI offenders
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