Armored Car Guard Confesses

A 20-year-old armored car guard, who called himself “a bum” on a syndicated TV show, confessed to killing his partner and fleeing with $300,000, police said.

Thomas Wheelock, 20, on the run since Monday’s shooting, calmly surrendered after a routine traffic stop Thursday near Centerville.

“He’s young and scared,” Oakland, Calif., Police Capt. Pete Dunbar said Friday. “Whatever plan he might have had may have changed because of all the information that was out there.”

In court Friday, a shackled Wheelock spoke only to confirm his name and address. A judge ordered him held without bail over the weekend in Farmington, while prosecutors evaluate the case and move to bring him back to California.

Wheelock, who was on probation for robbing vending machines, had worked for Armored Transport for less than two months before the shooting. The body of his 30-year-old partner, Rodrigo Cortez, was found Tuesday in the abandoned truck.

Police say Wheelock fled the Bay Area with 20-year-old Peter York, a friend who was arrested Tuesday and faces charges as an accomplice.

Their vehicle broke down Tuesday afternoon, but a California Highway Patrol officer helped them get to a service station. The officer said he didn’t realize the man he helped was wanted.

Wheelock stuffed more than $270,000 under the mattress of a Sacramento, Calif., motel - then abandoned it after being spooked by a police officer Tuesday. The rest of the money was found in Wheelock’s car after his arrest.

Dunbar said Wheelock confessed on videotape to the Utah Highway Patrol officer who pulled him over on Thanksgiving and later to two Oakland detectives who flew to Utah to question him.

While he was on the run, Wheelock appeared Wednesday on a pre-taped episode of the “Judge Judy” show in a dispute over a car with his ex-fiancee. He told the judge he was “a bum,” sometimes staying with friends or family and not paying child support for his 2-year-old son.

His family - glad Wheelock was alive but saddened - gathered for the Thanksgiving weekend in San Ramon, Calif.

“We’re at the point now where it just really hurts to talk about it,” said Wheelock’s 22-year-old brother, Patrick. “If I could, I would just give him a hug and say I was here for him.”