$8.4m theft a family matter

Akron, Ohio: A man, his girlfriend and his mother have pleaded guilty in the theft of about $8.4 million from an armoured car company where he worked.

Roger Dillon, 23, and his girlfriend, Nicole Boyd, 25, had admitted earlier to investigators they stole the money to escape financial hardship and make a better life. Each faces up to 25 years in prison.

Dillon's mother, Sharon Lee Gregory, 49, could get up to 15 years after pleading guilty Friday to charges that she conspired with the two and helped the couple make their getaway with the money to West Virginia.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has said the theft at AT Systems was timed so that large amounts of money would be available during a busy holiday shopping weekend in November.

Dillon had been employed by the company for about nine months as a driver and messenger.

On November 26, Dillon disguised with a cap and hood, entered the building using another employee's security code, his statement said.

He removed a security video tape and kept the lights off in case there was another camera.

He pulled a truck into a garage, loaded it with bags and reset the alarm.

About $6.7 million in cash was taken, according to an FBI agent who detailed the allegations in court in January.

The rest was in cheques. The couple drove to West Virginia, where they met Gregory.

The trio spent part of the next four days counting the money and the FBI - tipped by West Virginia receipts found in Boyd's abandoned pickup truck - showed up one day later.

The plea agreements disclosed that Dillon financed the plan with $50,000 smuggled out of a JP Morgan Chase Bank in Akron on August 8 during an armoured-car pickup.

The cash and cheques were found stacked in a mobile home where the couple fled about 400 kilometres away in Pipestem, West Virginia. All but $3,500 was recovered.

The plea agreements signed by each specified that the government would support leniency on one sentencing category - taking responsibility and pleading guilty.

The judge emphasised that he could deviate from the complex sentence guidelines.

As part of his deal, Dillon won't be charged in the $50,000 theft but must make restitution.