Man Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud
| U.S. Attorney’s Office May 26, 2011 |
BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that James Stewart, 34, of Niagara Falls, Ontario, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Arcara, to wire fraud. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward H. White, who is handling the case, stated that between June 2003 and November 2003, the defendant offered to sell approximately 2,409 laptop computers to the victim in the case. Stewart received four separate wire transfers totaling $162,875 from the victim for the purchase of laptop computers. But the defendant kept the money and failed to deliver or provide to the victim any of the computers.
The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Richard W. Kollmar.
Sentencing is scheduled for August 31, 2011 at 12:30 p.m. in Buffalo, N.Y., before Judge Arcara.