Texas Man Sentenced for His Role in Identity Theft and Credit Card Fraud Ring

BOSTON, MA—A Texas man was sentenced to 14 years in prison late yesterday, for his role in a scheme to steal credit cards from health club locker rooms and take more than $400,000 in cash advances at horse race tracks in at least 10 states.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division; Robert Bethel, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Steven D. Ricciardi, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service; and Commissioner Edward Davis of the Boston Police Department, announced that DENNIS SAVARESE, of Austin, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to 14 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Judge Stearns has also ordered SAVARESE to forfeit to the Government more than $429,000. The sentencing followed SAVARESE’s conviction on February 2, 2010, after a jury trial, on charges of conspiracy, aggravated identity theft and identity fraud.

SAVARESE conspired with at least four others, including JAMES DESIMONE, DONALD DESIMONE, JR., RICHARD REGNETTA and ARTHUR RIZZO to steal credit cards from health club locker rooms all over the country and then use those cards to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. On a weekly basis, for more than two years, SAVARESE traveled around the country and broke into lockers at two different nationwide health club chains. After SAVARESE stole the credit cards, he then transferred the names from the credit cards to one of his co-conspirators in Massachusetts who purchased fake identifications with photos of SAVARESE or one of his co-conspirators and the names from the stolen cards. Then, on weekends, SAVARESE met up with one or more of the other defendants at racetracks and casinos all over the country to use those stolen credit cards to make thousands of dollars in fraudulent cash advances. The remaining defendants have pleaded guilty to similar charges.

DESIMONE pled guilty and is awaiting sentencing; DONALD DESIMONE, JR. pled guilty and was sentenced to 28 months’ imprisonment; REGNETTA pled guilty and was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment; and RIZZO pled guilt and was sentenced to 51 months’ imprisonment.

The case was investigated by the Boston Police Department, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam J. Bookbinder of Ortiz’s Computer Crime Unit and Sarah E. Walters of her Economic Crimes Unit.