[February 27, 2010] $12 Million Webster Bank ATM Theft Could Involve Other Banks Tweet Feb 26, 2010 (The Hartford Courant - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Robert Egan's alleged theft of $12 million in cash from Webster Bank ATMs started unraveling in late January in a telephone conversation. Egan's company, Mount Vernon Money Centers of Mount Vernon, N.Y., had been hired as a subcontractor to a firm hired by Webster manage the restocking of its ATMs. Mount Vernon Money Centers restocked ATMs for 162 ATMs in Westchester County, N.Y., and had provided that service since at least 2003. According to a complaint filed by federal prosecutors, Egan on Jan. 29 had "a telephone conversation with an investigator authorized to act on behalf of Company A" in which he admitted to the fraudulent scheme. Company A was the firm that had hired MVMC. The call was recorded and later reviewed by the FBI. Federal prosecutors in New York wouldn't comment today beyond the complaint. But the recording of telephone calls without the consent of both parties must be authorized by the courts. Egan's troubles may now be growing beyond Webster, according to reports on news Web sites. A report in delawareonline.com Thursday said WSFS Bank, based in Wilmington, Del., suspects that Egan's company may have $4.9 million of its money, also intended to restock ATMs in the New York area. And police in Mamaroneck, N.Y. are investigating the disappearance of seven bags of coins -- roughly $8,500 -- from the town's parking meters. Those coins are collected by the town but counted and deposited in a bank account by MVMC, according to a report on LoHud.com. MVMC has worked for Mamaroneck for more than 20 years. For Egan's company to restock the ATMs, Webster would first transfer the money to an account at Bank of America that Egan's company could access. MVMC would then collect the cash, take it to its own vault and fill ATM canisters. Company employees then drove to ATMs, removed either empty or partially empty canisters from the machines and replaced them with filled ones. Any cash that remained in the removed canisters was supposed to be returned to Webster, or be kept to fill the bank's ATM canisters in the future. In the telephone call, Egan admitted that the $12 million in cash was supposed to be returned to Webster's account at Bank of America. Instead, they were used to "fund other 'shortfalls' in MVMC's business operations, which had been caused by the unauthorized misappropriation of funds from other customers. The $12 million was siphoned off during eight separate occasions in January, according to the complaint. The complaint says between $10 million and $16 million was needed to replenish the ATMs weekly. To see more of The Hartford Courant, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.courant.com/. Copyright (c) 2010, The Hartford Courant, Conn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]