The Ulster County Sheriff's Office is reporting today that 21-year-old Matthew Fragner, of Kingston, has been arrested as part of a complicated, bizarre, and very damp robbery.
According to the press release, Fragner helped two other men, Shawn McCarthy and Nicoli Ninas, drag a stolen safe out of Sawkill Creek in the town of Ulster, where the pair had reportedly hidden it after stealing it from the Northen Lights concert venue in Clifton Park, New York.
After breaking into the safe and removing about $33,000 in wet bills, the group reportedly dumped the empty safe in the Hudson River. They attempted to dry the currency with hair dryers, to no avail, the release states. Then McCarthy, Nicoli, and McCarthy's girlfriend reportedly stuffed the damp cash into a Kingston cab bound for New Jersey. The cab was reportedly tracked and stopped along its route, and the three were detained, along with the wet loot.
Fragner was arrested yesterday and charged in the town of Ulster for posessing stolen property and tampering with physical evidence. The other three alleged robbers are being extradited from New Jersey to New York.
