Rochester, N.Y. — Shabon Banks, one of the six people charged in a retail theft ring in the Rochester area, was sentenced Tuesday to 5 1/3 years in prison, according to the United States District Attorney for the Western District of New York
Banks, now 42, of Gates, was previously convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for working with a group of serial larcenists, including Amanda Reeves and Chad Lewis, to steal new in-box items on a weekly basis from several stores between December 2021 and Oct. 17, 2024, prosecutors said. The group then sold the merchandise to New York Gold Diamond Pawn Shop in Greece, which is owned by Dominic Sprague and managed by James Civiletti, for a fraction of the retail value, and the shop would sell the stolen items on eBay for much higher prices.
BACKGROUND: Six arrested in multi-year retail theft scheme involving Greece pawn shop
Prosecutors said Banks also led police on two high-speed chases in 2022 and 2024. While the circumstances of the pursuits are unclear, both were called off due to the threat posed to other drivers.
In total, the pawn shop bought 37,936 stolen in-box items from Banks, Reeves and Lewis on more than 670 separate occasions, prosecutors said. The larcenists were paid a total of $290,000, resulting in $1.16 million in losses to the retail stores.
Civiletti and Lewis were both sentenced in July to 14 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges in February, prosecutors said. Civiletti was also sentenced in August 2024 to one year of probation for conspiring with several others to run an illegal gambling business on Blossom Road in Rochester from 2019 to 2021, according to prosecutors.
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Prosecutors said Reeves and Sprague are both awaiting sentencing after previously accepting guilty pleas.