News

Tri-State principal pleads guilty to money laundering, tax evasion

December 10, 2001

PITTSBURGH -- Barry J. Chesla, a former investor in Tri-State Armored Services of New Jersey, on Sept. 18 admitted his role in a series of schemes in which he stole some $3.7 million meant for ATMs, according to the Pittsburgh Post.

Chesla, 42, appeared before U.S. District Judge Robert Cindrich to plead guilty to money laundering and tax evasion. He'll be sentenced Dec. 7, according to the Post.

For more than three years beginning in 1996, Chesla pilfered millions meant for ATMs, according to the FBI and the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS.

His ex-partners, William Mottin of Sewell, N.J., the former CEO of Tri-State, and former vice-president Daniel Feuker of Atlantic City, have both pleaded guilty in New Jersey.

Tri-State ceased operations and declared bankruptcy in March, according to the FBI. The company had offices in Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and supplied cash for 3,000 ATMs on the East Coast. Payment was wired to the company, which then picked up cash from banks, savings associations and credit unions, and transported it to ATMs by armored car.

Chesla used some of the money to buy pricey real estate, including a $532,000 beachfront home in New Jersey he shared with his wife, Amy. According to civil forfeiture complaints, Chesla and his wife used the cash to write cashier's checks to cover part of the cost of 10 properties they bought for $1.9 million.

The government plans to take Chesla's properties and use them to pay the ATM owners.

In addition to the vacation home in New Jersey, he owned a $425,000 mobile home park, a $125,000 townhouse in Unity, a $100,000 home, several rental properties and the Tri-State offices.

Chesla, a former security guard, worked for a New Jersey bank until 1996, then worked for Executive Cash Services Inc., a New Jersey-based firm. Tri-State was formed after the buyout of Executive Cash Services in 1997.