New Jersey man admits $1.7 million ripoff from New York DMV

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

A New Jersey man admitted Thursday that he stole $1.7 million from the state, the Albany County District Attorney’s Office said.

Glenn Fox, 58, of Marlboro, N.J., pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of second-degree grand larceny, a high-level felony.

In return for his plea, Fox is to receive a sentence of five to 15 years in state prison and must pay $1.7 million in restitution to the state, officials said.

Fox was accused of taking the money through his position as a private sector partner for the state Department of Motor Vehicles. Fox collected registration fees from car dealerships in New York City and then was to send them to the DMV.

But beginning in August 2009, Fox stopped sending the fees to the state, instead keeping them for himself. The motive, officials said, was financial setbacks in his personal business.

Fox was accused of taking a total of $1,717,083 between Aug. 19 and Oct. 30, 2009, officials said.

The theft stopped after the DMV realized Fox was failing to send payments. The DMV then revoked his ability to act to collect the money and sent the case to the Albany County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

“In these difficult financial times when we are all forced to do more with less, I will not allow individuals to steal from the hardworking taxpayers of New York State,” Albany County District Attorney David Soares said in a statement. “We will continue to uncover waste and fraud in Albany County and throughout our state to hold these offenders accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

Fox is to be sentenced in December. The case was handled by financial crimes bureau chief Chris Baynes and assistant district attorney Benjamin Clark.

The plea was taken before Albany County Court Judge Thomas A. Breslin.