Man Sentenced To Nearly 5 Years For Installing ATM Skimmers In Bergen County: U.S. Attorney

BERGEN COUNTY, N.J. — A native of Romania was sentenced Tuesday to 57 months in prison for his role in a large-scale, long-running ATM skimming scheme where he stole bank account information from thousands of customers, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Robert Mate, a/k/a “Chioru,” a/k/a “Marcel Varga,” 31, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William J. Martini in Newark federal court to Count One of an indictment charging him conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Mate admitted on April 29 in court to using counterfeit ATM cards at a Wells Fargo in Cranford to make unauthorized withdrawals of cash from stolen bank accounts on or about July 1, 2012, according to questions asked in open court.

Mate also confirmed removing a “skimming” device and pinhole camera panel from that Citibank ATM in Cedar Grove on or about Nov. 22, 2012, according to questions asked in open court.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Martini sentenced Mate to five years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of $7,397,270.

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