Hanover Man Charged with Fraud
| U.S. Attorney’s Office June 08, 2011 |
ROCKFORD, IL—PATRICK J. FITZGERALD, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; JOHN A. GULLICKSON, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the U.S. SECRET SERVICE; ROBERT D. GRANT, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and HIRAM GRAU, Director of the Illinois State Police, today made the following announcement:
On Tuesday, June 7, 2011, a federal grand jury in Rockford indicted DEFILIPPO access device fraud, and two counts of access device fraud.
According to the indictment, beginning as early as April 2008, and continuing to at least April 2011, Defilippo devised and engaged in a scheme to defraud Wal-Mart.com, Inc., and obtain money, funds, and property belonging to Wal-Mart.com, Inc. by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses and representations. The indictment alleges that Defillipo used his eBay account to sell various types of merchandise, such as vacuum cleaners and sewing machines, then fraudulently purchased merchandise from Wal-Mart.com, Inc. to fulfill his eBay sales. The indictment alleges that Defilippo paid for the merchandise he purchased through Wal-Mart.com by providing Wal-Mart.com with credit card names and account numbers that he was not authorized to use. Defilippo then arranged for Wal-Mart.com to ship the merchandise directly to the eBay buyers directing Wal-Mart.com to address the merchandise in the credit card owner’s name but with the eBay buyer’s address. According to the indictment, Defilippo frequently made false representations to the eBay buyers that the use of another person’s name as the addressee for the merchandise was necessary to receive free shipping.
The indictment further alleges it was a part of the scheme that Defilippo arranged for the money eBay received from the eBay buyers to be paid to him through two PayPal debit cards.
Defilippo periodically withdrew money from the debit cards.
If convicted, Defilippo faces a possible maximum sentence of up to 20 years of imprisonment for each count of wire fraud; up to 15 years of imprisonment for each count of unauthorized access device fraud, and up to 10 years of imprisonment for each count of access device fraud, as well as a fine of up to $250,000 for each count, a period of up to three years of supervised release following imprisonment, and any restitution ordered by the court. The actual sentence would be determined by the United States District Court, guided by the federal Sentencing Guidelines.
The case is being investigated by the Chicago Office of the U.S. Secret Service, and the Rockford office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Police, the Rockford Police Department, and the Jo Daviess County Sheriff’s Office. The case is being prosecuted in federal court by Assistant United States Attorney MICHAEL D. LOVE.
Members of the public are reminded that a criminal indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is entitled to a fair trial at which time the government has the burden of proving guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt.