West Orange Man Gets 14 Years In Jail For Money Laundering, Fraud

A West Orange man was sentenced to 14 years in prison after he stole about $700,000 during his time as a bookkeeper for a South Plainfield company, prosecutors announced last week.

According to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, Robert Keith, 47, of West Orange was sentenced to 14 years in a New Jersey state prison. Keith received two consecutive terms; 10 years with a four-year period of ineligibility of parole for money laundering in the first degree, and a consecutive term of four years in state prison for insurance fraud in the third degree.

At a sentencing on Thursday, Keith handed over the titles of a 2005 BMW and a 2008 Mercedes S550 which were purchased with the illegal proceeds, to the victims. In addition, a superior court judge ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $710,000, which Keith stole from the plumbing, heating and air conditioning company, prosecutors said.

The sentence was imposed after Keith pleaded guilty on June 11 in accordance with a plea agreement reached with Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, to one count of first-degree money laundering and one count of third-degree insurance fraud.

According to prosecutors:

“Keith, who worked as a bookkeeper for a South Plainfield plumbing, heating and air conditioning company, was arrested on March 25, 2017 after an investigation by Detective Joseph Glowacki of the South Plainfield Police Department and Detective Jonathan Berman of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office determined that Keith, between February 1, 2015 and February 7, 2017, wrote unauthorized checks from the company’s accounts and made illegal credit card purchases, which included the two vehicles. Keith also used a company credit card to pay his automobile insurance policy premium… In addition, it was determined that Keith funneled money into a house of worship in Newark where he served as a minister.”

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