Two defendants sentenced for their roles in retail theft ring involving over a million dollars’ worth of stolen merchandise

Date: July 17, 2025

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Rochester, NY — U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that James Civiletti, of Greece, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to transport stolen goods in interstate commerce, was sentenced to serve 14 months in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. In addition, co-defendant Chad Lewis Jr., 20, also of Greece, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, was also sentenced to serve 14 months in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle P. Rossi, who handled the case, stated that between December 2021, and Oct. 17, 2024, Lewis Jr. conspired with a group of serial larcenists, including Amanda Reeves and Shabon Banks, to engage in an ongoing retail theft conspiracy involving the New York Gold Diamond Pawn Shop. The pawn shop is owned and operated by another co-defendant Dominic Sprague and managed by Civiletti.

Lewis Jr. and the other larcenists stole new-in-box items from store shelves on a weekly, and sometimes daily, basis. They then sold the stolen goods to the pawn shop for a fraction of the actual retail value. The pawn shop, including Civiletti, then resold the stolen merchandise on eBay at much higher prices, resulting in significant profits. The pawn shop purchased 37,936 stolen new-in-box items from Lewis Jr., Banks, and Reeves on more than 670 occasions, for which the larcenists were paid $290,000.00. The actual losses to the victim-retailers were approximately $1,160,000.00.

Reeves, Banks, and Sprague have also been convicted and are awaiting sentencing.

The sentencings are the culmination of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Harry Chavis, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Erin Keegan, the Greece Police Department, under the direction of Chief Michael Wood, and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Todd Baxter.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.