WORCESTER, Mass. -- Shawn P. O'Donnell, a 22-year-old Worcester man, pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing money belonging to Fleet Bank.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Charles S. Prouty, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England, said that O'Donnell pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to a one count information charging him with bank larceny.
At a plea hearing, the prosecutor told the court that had the case proceeded to trial, the government's evidence would have shown that while O'Donnell was working as a driver for Loomis Fargo & Company on July 16, he took $54,000 that had been removed from a Fleet Bank ATM in a shopping mall while two other crew members were servicing another ATM.
Eight days after the theft was committed, O'Donnell confessed to the larceny and took investigators to his home where he had hidden approximately $25,000. As for the more than $29,000 in unfound money, he stated that he spent approximately $11,000 to purchase electronics equipment and clothing, spent nearly $10,000 at a strip club named Centerfolds and gave $5,000 to a former girlfriend.
Judge Gorton scheduled sentencing for Jan. 22, 2002. O'Donnell faces up to 10 years in prison.
