Voorhees Man Sentenced For Defrauding Customers At His Pub

PHILADELPHIA, PA — A Voorhees man has been sentenced to one year, six months in prison for using a stolen credit card number to make purchases at his Philadelphia bar, United States Attorney Louis D. Lappen said on Tuesday.

Michael Hoffner, Sr., 52, owner of the now-closed Brown Street Pub on North 14th Street in Philadelphia, previously pleaded guilty to 40 counts of wire fraud. He is also subject to three years of supervised release and must pay $87,060 in restitution and forfeit $82,643 in proceeds.

Hoffner admitted that on 40 occasions between September and December of 2012, he used a stolen credit number to make charges at the pub to credit and debit cards issued by American Express, Navy Federal Credit Union, USAA, ACNB, and the State Employees Credit Union of Maryland, according to Lappen.

Hoffner used the stolen card to make $87,000 that he put into an account that he controlled, Lappen said. The average fraudulent charge was more than $2,000. The cardholders were not aware of and did not authorize these transactions, Lappen said.

The case was investigated by the United States Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David J. Ignall and Christopher J. Mannion.

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