Court: Petaluma Brinks manager who lost bonus not crime 'victim'

<p>A state appeals court ruled Thursday that the manager of Brinks Inc.'s Petaluma branch is not entitled to $10,000 in restitution after she lost company bonuses when a former employee she had hired robbed armored cars from her office three times in two years.</p><p>Manager Debbie Christian had been awarded the payment by a Sonoma County judge after Robert Starling, 36, of Windsor was convicted by a jury last year of four heists from 2007 to 2009 totalling $517,000.</p><p>Starling, a one-time Santa Rosa police officer and ex-Brinks employee, was sentenced to 30 years in state prison.</p><p>At his restitution hearing, Judge Arthur Wick concluded Starling should reimburse Brinks and another company, Loomis Armored Transport, for their losses. Starling took $337,000 in cash from Brinks and $180,000 from Loomis in the series of brazen, daytime holdups.</p><p>Wick also ordered Starling to pay Christian, the 22-year employee whose management incentive bonuses were cut in half in 2008 and 2009 because of the robberies.</p><p>Restitution in such criminal cases is no often fulfilled. Long prison terms and lack of financial resources means payments are negligible.</p><p> Although Christian was not present at the robberies, which began a month after Starling left Brinks, Christian argued she suffered “financially, mentally and emotionally.”</p><p>But justices in the state's First Appellate District justices disagreed. They ruled the armored car companies and the on-duty guards were direct victims but Christian did not fall within the legal definition.</p><p>Her losses came as a result of a “business decision, a Brinks policy or a contractual arrangement with her employer,” not directly from the robberies.</p><p>“While it was well-intentioned, it was legal error to award her restitution,” the three-judge panel said.</p><p>Christian did not return a phone call seeking comment.</p><p>Starling, meanwhile, must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before he can be released. At his trial, authorities testified he spent some of the money on gambling trips to Lake Tahoe and Reno.</p><p>All of the money could not be accounted for.</p>