Armored Car Service Employee Sentenced To 15 Months In Prison For Stealing More Than $143,000 From Bank Vault
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney sentenced today Christian Zorrilla, 31, of Charlotte to 15 months in prison for stealing $143,680 from a bank vault, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to the prison term, Zorrilla was also ordered to serve two years under court supervision and to pay $143,680 as restitution. Zorrilla pleaded guilty in March 2013 to one count of bank theft.
Brock D. Nicholson, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Georgia and the Carolinas joins U.S. Attorney Tompkins in making today’s announcement.
According to charging documents and statements made during the sentencing hearing, from 2005 through May 2012, Zorrilla was employed by an armored car service as a driver, messenger, and vault custodian. According to court records, between December 2011 and April 2012 and while working as vault custodian, Zorrilla stole a total of $143,680 from the armored car service. Court records indicate that Zorrilla’s responsibilities as vault custodian included coordinating cash storage at the bank’s vault and changing out security tapes. According to court documents, Zorrilla used the delay between the changing of security tapes to take cash out of sealed bags in the vault and to reseal the bags. Zorrilla stole funds in this manner on approximately six occasions, court records show. According to information contained in filed documents and statements made during the sentencing hearing, Zorrilla used the stolen money to pay for vehicles and to pay off a second mortgage on his home.
Zorrilla remains released on bond and upon designation of a federal facility he will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.
The investigation into Zorrilla was handled by HSI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenny Grus Sugar of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.