Rochester, N.Y. (WHAM) — Six people were arrested in a yearslong organized booster scheme that was uncovered by investigators.
Shabon Banks, Amanda Reeves, Chanc Lewis and Chad Lewis Jr. allegedly stole thousands of new-in-box items from several local retail stores and sold them to Dominic Sprague and James Civiletti at New York Gold Diamond and Pawn on Stone Road in Greece. The pair would then flip the items on eBay for a significant profit, prosecutors said.
“It didn’t look right; it didn’t smell right,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Rossi. “The Greece investigators and their administrative staff rightly understood that this was indicative of theft. Through their hard work, they uncovered four larcenists that are charged in this complaint.”
Rossi said the larcenists were paid approximately $290,000 for the stolen goods by Sprague and Civiletti over a period of two years. The alleged theft scheme, which took place from December 2021 to October 2024, generated more than $2.4 million in revenue for the pawn shop, according to the criminal complaint.
Prosecutors say after investigators with the Greece Police Department became aware that Shabon Banks had made an unusually large number of transactions at the pawn shop, a multi-agency investigation was prompted. Investigators discovered that the pawn shop’s owners allegedly failed to properly document their purchases in a way that would allow investigators to reliably verify the origins of stolen items. According to prosecutors, 111 theft incidents involving the larcenists were captured on video.
“These types of crimes, these retail theft crimes, are happening throughout the country, and they are seen in all types of communities,” U.S. Attorney Trini Ross explained during a press conference Thursday. “I’m here today to tell the public and would-be perpetrators of these crimes, that we are not going to sit back and allow these types of crimes to continue.”
All six suspects are facing several charges, including wire fraud, transportation of stolen goods in interstate commerce, and money laundering.
“By the grace of God, maybe you and I can afford the inflation rate,” said Sheriff Todd Baxter. “…the larceny and inflation rate, but think of poor people on fixed incomes trying to go to these box stores and buy something, and they are paying the inflation rate because of criminal conduct.”
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