Former Brinks Driver Sentenced for $1 Million Credit Union, Bank Embezzlement
Federal judge sentences Reginald Carman to 18 months in prison and orders him to pay $255,932 in restitution.
U. S. District Court Judge Janet T. Neff in Grand Rapids, Mich., sentenced a former Brinks driver to 18 months in prison for embezzling more than $1 million from ATMs at three credit unions and four banks.
During Wednesday’s court hearing, Reginald Lamar Carman was also ordered to pay $225,932 in restitution and five years of supervised release following his prison term.
Carman argued in court documents for a sentence of probation because he returned most of the funds he had stolen. But prosecutors, who recommended a sentence of 30 months to 37 months, countered that Carman gave the money back only after being confronted by a Brinks manager. What’s more, he also held those funds for weeks, depriving credit unions and banks from using their money, prosecutors said.
He was originally charged with 12 felony counts of bank larceny. Eleven of those charges were dropped by prosecutors after he agreed to plead guilty in June to one felony count of bank larceny.
The FBI began investigating Carman’s crimes after the $973 million LAFCU in Lansing reported $350,000 had been missing from certain ATMs since mid-December in 2021.
Brinks Regional Manager Jeremiah Weiker had already begun investigating what happened to the missing funds from LAFCU ATMs and ATMs at other credit unions and banks, according to the FBI. When he worked for Brinks, Carman serviced these ATMs.
He stole a total of $1,060,200 from LAFCU, the $2.5 billion Lake Trust Credit Union in Brighton, the $6.9 billion Michigan State University Federal Credit Union in East Lansing, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Comerica Bank, Huntington Bank and US Bank, according to court documents.
After viewing video security camera footage that showed Carman stealing the money, Weiker demanded Carman return all the funds he was suspected of stealing. When they met on Jan. 6, Carman returned $650,000.
Weiker, however, continued his investigation and determined that the amount of money that was missing was greater than the amount of cash Carman had returned. After Weiker contacted Carman, again, and demanded that he return all of the funds, Carman allegedly said he would “look around his home to see if he has missed some money,” according to the FBI. When they met for a second time on Jan. 12, he returned $250,000.
Later that month, Weiker discovered more funds were still missing. When he met with Carman for a third time on Jan. 26, he returned an additional $76,000.
In February, Brinks became aware of even more money missing from another bank ATM. When Weiker met with Carman for the fourth time, he returned an additional $60,000.
Nevertheless, Brinks determined additional money was still missing.