Fire Official Stole $120,000 From Briarcliff Manor Department

BRIARCLIFF MANOR, NY — The former president and chief of the Briarcliff Manor Fire Department was sentenced Friday to one year and one day in prison for embezzling money from the department. In addition to prison time, Robert Garcia was sentenced to two years of supervised release and assessed a $20,000 fine.

The 51-year-old paid full restitution to the BMFD prior to sentencing. He had stolen more than $120,000.

“Robert Garcia lined his pockets with Briarcliff Manor Fire Department and Fire Council money to pay personal expenses, and then lied about it to cover his tracks," Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in the announcement. "Now Garcia will go to prison for his crime.”

He joins a lengthening list of local officials in volunteer fire departments who stole from their communities.

Most recently, Robert Gerardi of Port Chester pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $38,000 from Putnam Engine & Hose Company No. 2.

And Gerardi's theft, to cover an online scam, was small potatoes compared to other recent local fire department scandals. Gerald Munson stole more than $300,000 from the Croton-on-Hudson Fire Department. Albert Melin took more than $1.1 million from the Patterson Fire Department. And Michael Klein embezzled $5.6 million dollars over 14 years. Officials said Klein spent most of the money on yachts, jewelry and a second home in Florida.

SEE:

• Former Treasurer Stole More Than $300K From Croton FD: DA
• Ex-Treasurer to be Sentenced in Patterson FD Embezzlement
• Plea from Former Mahopac Fire Department Treasurer in $5.6M Theft
• Former Treasurer Admits Embezzling Fire Company Funds

Garcia was elected to the position of Second Assistant Chief of the BMFD in or about April 2013. His election to that position also made him an officer of the Briarcliff Manor Fire Council, which oversees the Briarcliff Manor Fire Department. He was thereafter elected to different administrative and operational positions within the BMFD, including first assistant chief, chief, treasurer and president. As a result, he was also an officer of the Fire Council from in or about April 2013 through in or about April 2017. He was given signatory authority over bank accounts held by the Fire Council and the BMFD starting in April 2013.

Frim May 2013 to in or about March 2017, he embezzled money from the BMFD and the Fire Council by writing checks drawn on the BMFD's and Fire Council's bank accounts that he made payable to himself. He then deposited these checks into his personal bank accounts. He used the embezzled proceeds to pay personal expenses.

He covered up his thefts by making material misstatements on written reports he gave to the Fire Council about the purposes and payees of the checks he had written to himself when he acted as the BMFD’s treasurer from in or about 2014 through in or about April 2017. He wrote roughly 150 checks to himself.

Garcia, an Ossining resident, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel on July 2, 2018, to one count of embezzlement from a program receiving federal funds.

Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the IRS, FBI, New York State Comptroller, and New York State Police. The case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant United States Attorney James McMahon is in charge of the prosecution.