ROCHESTER, N.Y.-Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today Richard Lipke, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay $60,608.10 in restitution by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford.
The defendant was arrested with four others in June of 2016 after they were discovered to have been engaged in a variety of frauds involving credit cards. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa M. Marangola, who is handling the case, between Jan. 15, 2015, and Feb. 2, 2015, one of defendant’s co-conspirators conducted a series of over-the-phone credit card purchase with stolen credit card account information at various Home Depot locations in Western New York. Defendant Lipke also utilized the stolen credit card information to conduct a series of fraudulent purchases from Home Depot during this period. Those fraudulent purchases totaled $48,208.10.
Moreover, between February 2015 and May 2015, defendant picked-up from retailers in the greater-Rochester area various equipment, including a jet ski, a watercraft trailer, with a combined value in excess of $20,000, which had been fraudulently purchased over-the-phone by one of his co-conspirators using stolen credit card account information.
Today’s sentencing is the culmination of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Adam S. Cohen.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
