Sacramento Jury Finds Brinks Courier Guilty of Bank Larceny

SACRAMENTO, CA—A federal jury returned a guilty verdict against John D. Leitaker, 36, of Sacramento, for committing bank larceny, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to evidence produced at the two-day trial, on December 6, 2011, Leitaker, a courier for the Brinks armored car company, took custody of $565,600 from a Bank of America branch in Sacramento for transportation to another Bank of America location. When the cash bags were counted at the second location, they were found to be short $265,000. Investigation by Bank of America and Brinks determined that the sealed Bank of America cash bags had been replaced with duplicate bags, and the serial numbers of the new bags had been altered to make them appear to be the original bags. When law enforcement agencies executed a search warrant at Leitaker’s house three weeks later, they found the cash, the original missing bags from Bank of America, and the materials that were necessary to create the altered currency bags.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Sacramento Violent Crimes Task Force, and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew G. Morris and Christiaan H. Highsmith prosecuted the case.

Upon Leitaker’s conviction, Chief United States District Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. ordered Leitaker remanded into the custody while awaiting sentencing. Sentencing is currently set for September 12, 2013. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.