Ex-East Bay armored car guard agreed to serve life for murdering colleague

OAKLAND — A former East Bay armored car guard accepted a murder conviction and a life sentence for killing a former colleague during a botched robbery, court records show.

Akbar Bey, 30, is now in San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, serving a sentence of 19 years to life. He pleaded no contest to a second-degree murder charge knowing he’d be sentenced with no guarantee to ever be paroled, according to court records.

Palden Ukyab, the deputy public defender who represented Bey, said he’s never had a client accept such a sentence in his 20-year career as a lawyer.

“In my client’s interview with the probation department, he took full responsibility for his actions,” Ukyab said in court last year. “The probation officer herself has written that she has never seen anyone in her entire career express such remorse, regret, and take responsibility for their actions such as Mr. Bey.”

Bey was charged in 2022 with murdering 60-year-old John Mendez, a guard for GardaWorld armored car services. Mendez was shot and killed during a robbery outside a San Leandro hospital located at 2500 Merced St. Police said at the time that Bey and his co-defendant, Artemio Torres, 29, used insider knowledge of the company’s routes to plan the robbery.

Bey had worked alongside Mendez previously, authorities said. He was fired after being accused of stealing from the company two months earlier.

Torres, who remained a fugitive for more than a year after Bey was arrested, was charged with robbery but not murder. He ultimately pleaded no contest to accessory and received a 180-day jail term, along with two years of probation, last January, court records show.

Bey, who had no criminal history, received credit for time spent in jail before his case was resolved. Prison records say he will be eligible for parole in 2036.