Investigation Continues for Bedford Man Accused of Stealing From ATMs

Federal authorities are seeking any other victims of a Bedford Corners resident accused of stealing $12 million from Westchester-area ATMs through his cash machine servicing company.

They have frozen and seized the assets of the company owned by Robert Egan, 64, as the investigation continues. Egan is now out on bail but faces federal charges of defrauding Webster Bank of the $12 million.

Egan, the president of Mount Vernon Money Centers, a company that stocked automatic teller machines with cash, had kept some of the money his company had picked up from the ATMs they serviced for Webster, authorities say.

The charges against Egan were filed on Feb. 8 by Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The complaint states that Egan confessed to misappropriating the money and using to make up for other cash shortfalls at his company.

Egan also has another company, the Egan Group, which also offers armored car services and security. Because Mount Vernon Money Center and the Egan Group handle cash for many banks and other businesses, the investigation is ongoing. 

Egan posted a bond of $10 million, which includes property that he owns. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.  

He was arrested in January and charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He has admitted to taking money from Webster Bank on eight occasions in January. 

Mount Vernon Money Centers replenishes the cash in thousands of ATMs in the region, including 162 in Westchester for Webster Bank. The company also runs an armored car service.

The normal procedure is for a bank or ATM owner to deposit money with the Bank of America into an account that Mount Vernon Money Center then draws on to fill canisters at its Mount Vernon headquarters. Couriers bring the filled canisters to the ATMs and exchange them for empty or depleted canisters. The canisters are brought back to the center's headquarters in Mount Vernon and any remaining cash in them is credited against the ATM owner's account.

In January, Webster Bank discovered its Mount Vernon Money Center account was short more than $12 million, despite eight reports that money had been returned. Webster bank usually has between $10 and $16 million each week in its accounts with Mount Vernon Money Center, according to ATMMarketplace.com.

The Web site quoted other people in the ATM  industry as being shocked at the arrest, since Egan was well-respected.

The investigation was led by Joseph M. Demarest, Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.