WESTFIELD – A Springfield man employed as a messenger for Armored Motor Service of America has been arrested after a money bag containing $24,000 in $20 bills entrusted to him was found to be missing.
Representatives of the company, which does business as Loomis Fargo from a depot on South Broad Street, came to the station a week ago to report that the company had started an investigation into a bag of money which had not been delivered to an ATM in a Connecticut supermarket.
The company’s loss prevention officers explained that the money bag had not been listed on a messenger’s manifest but had been given to him without documentation and the bag is now missing.
Detectives Todd Edwards and Anthony Tsatsos were assigned to the case and found that the situation was complicated.
Edwards reports that his investigation showed that the bag had indeed not been on the messenger’s manifest but the messenger had written it in and signed for it.
However, because the bag’s destination was not on the driver’s manifest the armored car did not go to the supermarket where the bag was addressed.
Edwards explained that the messenger and driver each have a manifest for their route and are completely separated in the armored car with the messenger riding in the vault compartment with the money bags while the driver is alone in the cab of the armored car.
The undelivered bag was returned to the depot that evening but the next morning another messenger found the bag in his bin of deliveries for that day.
That messenger pointed out that the bag was not on his manifest and was destined for a stop on the first messenger’s route so it was added to his bin, even though it was again not on that manifest.
When the suspect messenger, Josue Ortiz, 27, of 47 Ladd St. (formerly 249 White St.), Springfield, took custody of his deliveries, Edwards reports, the money bag which had been added to his bin was again not listed on his manifest but, this time, Oritiz did not add it to the manifest by hand.
Because the delivery was again not listed on the driver’s manifest, the armored car did not go to the supermarket where the money was expected but, when the messenger returned to the depot with the day’s returns, the money bag was not returned.
Edwards reports that Ortiz came to the station and was interviewed but denied responsibility for the missing bag.
He declined to submit to a voice stress analysis interview.
Ortiz was arrested and charged with larceny of property valued more than $250.
He was arraigned Friday before Judge Philip A. Contant who released him on $5,000 personal surety pending a Jan. 10 hearing.
