LITH Man Sentenced To Federal Prison For Wire Fraud

LAKE IN THE HILLS, IL – A 61-year-old Lake in the Hills man was sentenced last week to three years in federal prison for wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Kapala also sentenced Salvatore Cribari to three years of supervised release and to pay $342,489.52 in restitution, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Illinois. Cribari pleaded guilty to wire fraud on December 11, 2017.

According to the written plea agreement, between February 2008 and September 2016, Cribari fraudulently obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in store credit from various locations of a nationwide home improvement store by returning stolen merchandise without a receipt in exchange for store credit.

Cribari later used the fraudulently-obtained store credit to purchase large-ticket items, including flooring, water heaters, appliances, home organization units, kitchen cabinets and countertops, and personal utility trailers, and to pay for installation services, according to a news release.

Some of the fraudulently-obtained products were installed at Cribari’s home, condominium units that he owned and rented to others, and a business he operated. Cribari admitted he used over 1,300 false or fictitious Illinois identification or driver’s license numbers to conduct the non-receipted returns. As part of the scheme, Cribari resold fraudulently-obtained personal utility trailers for cash to purchasers who were not aware of his scheme.

Prosecutors said Cribari also sold fraudulently-obtained store credit at a discount for cash to an individual purchaser who was not aware of his scheme. Over the course of the scheme, Cribari fraudulently obtained over $400,000 in store credit and redeemed approximately $339,989 of that store credit for merchandise and services.

Approximately $64,895 in fraudulently-obtained store credit and various stolen or fraudulently-obtained merchandise was recovered as part of the investigation, according to a news release.

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