Rochester, N.Y. — A Greece pawn shop owner is heading to prison after being sentenced for conspiracy to transport stolen goods in interstate commerce.
Prosecutors said Dominic Sprague, the owner of New York Diamond Pawn Shop on Stone Road, conspired with four others to buy and sell stolen goods between December 2021 and October 2024.
BACKGROUND: Six arrested in multi-year retail theft scheme involving Greece pawn shop
Judge Elizabeth Wolford sentenced Sprague, now 42, to five years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York announced Thursday.
Amanda Reeves, Shabon Banks and Chad Lewis Jr. stole items from store shelves before selling the items to the pawn shop, managed by James Civiletti, “for a fraction of their actual retail value,” according to prosecutors.
As part of the scheme, Reeves, Banks, and Lewis stole new-in-box items from store shelves on a weekly and sometimes daily basis, both alone and in concert with one another. They then sold the stolen goods to the pawn shop, which was managed by Civiletti, for a fraction of their actual retail value. The pawn shop then resold the stolen merchandise on eBay at much higher prices, resulting in significant profits. In total, the New York Gold Diamond Pawn Shop purchased 37,936 stolen new-in-box items from Reeves, Banks, and Lewis on more than 670 occasions, for which they were paid $290,000.00, which was approximately 25% of the actual retail value of the stolen items. This resulted in actual losses to the victim-retailers of approximately $1,160,000.00.
Sprague pleaded guilty May 28. Banks, Reeves, Lewis and Civiletti were previously convicted.
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Prosecutors said Reeves was awaiting sentencing after previously reaching a guilty plea.
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Sprague and Civiletti were previously sentenced for their roles in an illegal sports gambling ring.