Feds Accuse LITH Man of Stealing $340K from Home Improvement Store Chain

A Lake in the Hills man faces federal wire fraud charges in connection with a scheme to defraud a nationwide home improvement store chain, federal authorities said Friday.

Salvatore Cribari, also known as “Sal Fradillio,” 59, was indicted this past week by a federal grand jury in Rockford and charged with nine counts of wire fraud, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Illinois

Cribari was arrested Thursday in Algonquin. He pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Iain D. Johnston, and he was ordered detained pending a hearing scheduled for Sept. 19, according to the news release.

According to the indictment, Cribari knowingly and intentionally stole merchandise from stores run by Company A, which is an operator of a nationwide chain of home improvement stores. Prosecutors did not name the store chain.

The indictment alleges that Cribari returned the stolen merchandise to Company A without receipts, and he falsely and fraudulently presented the stolen merchandise as legitimately having been purchased from Company A. Cribari received store credit in the form of Company A gift cards during those non-receipted returns, according to the news release.

The indictment alleges that Cribari fraudulently obtained more than $340,000 in gift cards as part of the scheme to defraud, and Cribari subsequently used those gift cards to purchase over $310,000 of merchandise and services from the stores. Cribari is also accused of providing 1,300 false Illinois driver’s license and state identification numbers to conduct non-receipted returns of stolen merchandise.

Wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and a maximum fine of $250,000, or an alternate fine totaling twice the loss or twice the gain derived from the offense, whichever is greater. The court may also impose a sentence of probation of one to five years, a term of supervised release of up to three years, and restitution, according to the news release.

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