News

Former Tri-State owner faces more charges

August 28, 2003

PHILADELPHIA -- In the latest round of charges associated with the Tri-State Armored theft case, a former owner of the bankrupt company was charged on Aug. 28 with seven counts of wire fraud in the alleged scheme that took millions from bank customers, according to a federal indictment filed in Trenton.

(See related stories Former Tri-State Armored Services CEO held on money laundering, bank fraud charges, Tri-State principal pleads guilty to money laundering, tax evasion, More details emerge in Tri-State case, Another former Tri-State official pleads guilty to fraud charges, Accountant is latest to be charged in Tri-State case and Tri-State accountant to serve 6 months for role in theft)

The indictment states that Daniel A. Antolini III, 47, of Egg Harbor Township, Pa., and Boca Raton, Fla., moved money to other accounts from an escrow fund into which banks deposited money for the company to put into their ATMs.

According to a Philadelphia Inquirer report, the charges are the latest in a series filed against former officers of Tri-State Armored Car Services and its predecessor, Executive Cash Services, which Antolini owned until 1997. At least seven people have pleaded guilty to federal charges in the case and are serving prison sentences.

Antolini was originally charged in April. The new indictment brings additional charges, including the wire-fraud charges.

Along with his wife, Peggy Lee Antolini, he was charged earlier with four counts of tax evasion on allegations that they underreported their illicit income. The U.S. Attorney's Office moved to recover the money taken in the reported scheme by seizing the Antolinis' home in Florida, a motor home and cash from investment accounts.

Antolini sold Executive Cash Services to the company's employees in September 1997. The new owners rebuilt the company as Tri-State Armored Car Services, a cash courier that filed for bankruptcy in March 2001, a day before the FBI raided its headquarters in Hammonton. Federal agents recovered roughly $10 million in missing cash that belonged to the company's customers.

The alleged scheme came to the attention of authorities in 1998, when the IRS learned that Janette Frattaroli-Reilly, owner of a Clementon bridal boutique, was transferring large amounts of money to Tri-State's founding executive, Barry J. Chesla.

Officers of Tri-State, including Chesla, have pleaded guilty and are serving prison terms for the embezzlement scheme. Frattaroli-Reilly pleaded guilty in December 2001 in Pittsburgh and was sentenced to six months of home confinement. Former Tri-State president William A. Mottin was sentenced in April 2002 to three years in prison.