STRATEGIC PARTNERS
August 29, 2002
NEWARK, N.J. -- Christopher LaCroix of West Palm Beach, Fla., was sentenced to seven years and one month in federal prison yesterday for taking some of the $4.9 million stolen by New Jersey ATM company owner Michael Schwartz, according to a report in the New York Daily News.Lacroix was given the maximum sentence by Federal Judge Joseph Greenaway in Newark after prosecutors said LaCroix has "not been straightforward" about $1.3 million still missing.
LaCroix, 36, pleaded guilty in March to taking duffel bags of cash from a van owned by Schwartz, to whom LaCroix had rented a room.
Schwartz was found dead in the room on Christmas, a bizarre conclusion to a case that rocked the ATM and armored car industries. Schwartz, the owner of Direct Connect ATM and Schwartz Armored LLC, fled to Florida after apparently stealing $4.9 million from 160 ATMs that he had contracts to fill with cash for California's Humboldt Bank.
The bank notified authorities last November after 100 of the machines Schwartz was supposed to restock with $1.7 million were reported out of service. Authorities say Schwartz stole those funds and gradually siphoned out the other $3.2 million.
Lacroix, a 36-year-old carpenter, in January was arrested by FBI agents at his West Palm Beach apartment and charged with knowingly taking and concealing stolen money that had crossed state lines. Agents recovered $3.5 million of the stolen money in four bags in an abandoned house north of West Palm Beach, as well as approximately $68,000 from Lacroix's safety deposit box and storage locker, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Newark.
Lacroix told police he had found Schwartz dead after a two-week drinking binge. In June, the New York Post reported that an autopsy of Schwartz found traces of OxyContin, methadone and Xanax in his body, in addition to alcohol.
According to the Post report, Lacroix has a history of prescription drug abuse and another man, Ruben Torres, died in his previous apartment from an overdose of OxyContin and alcohol eight months before Schwartz. Lacroix told police Torres asked permission to sleep off a drinking binge at the apartment, but then stole some of his OxyContin and died accidentally.
No charges in either death have been filed against Lacroix.
