Retired Detective, Priest Arrested in Brink’s Heist

A retired police detective and a priest with links to Northern Ireland were among three men arrested Friday in one of the largest armored car heists in the nation’s history, the FBI said.

Thomas O’Connor, Patrick Maloney and Samuel Millar were arrested in connection with the $7.4-million robbery of a Brink’s armored car depot on Jan. 5, FBI special agent Paul Moskal said.

Raids in New York City on Friday turned up “literally hundreds of pounds” of U.S. currency that Moskal said tied the suspects to the heist. He said in a telephone interview that there was so much money that authorities were unable to count it immediately.

O’Connor, a 20-year veteran of the Rochester Police Department who worked for Brink’s at the time of the robbery, was charged with violating a federal law and knowingly receiving, possessing or concealing stolen federally insured funds.

Maloney, a New York City priest, and Samuel Millar, who is self-employed, were arrested on the same counts, Moskal said.

O’Connor was placed in federal custody after his arraignment. Maloney and Millar, who is also from New York City, were to be arraigned today.

Authorities had said that two of the robbers were wearing ski masks and the third was dressed in an armored car company uniform.

At least two robbers entered the Brink’s Inc. depot, a transfer point for money collected from area banks, subdued the employees and fled with about $7.4 million in cash. Authorities have refused to say how many employees were in the depot at the time or how they were subdued.

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported that at least one employee was tied up and others were forced to lie on the floor with bags over their heads.

At the time of the robbery, Brink’s employees were in a secured area, sorting money for redistribution to banks and the Federal Reserve, police said. The gunmen took nearly all the paper money in the depot, leaving behind several pallets loaded with change.

An affidavit filed in court in connection with the arrests said O’Connor has been active inNORAID, or Irish Northern Aid, a relief organization that gives aid to families of prisoners caught in the strife in Northern Ireland. The group is also widely suspected of funding terrorist activities for the Irish Republican Army.