Devin Tribunella, Thomas Nary among 5 charged in $15.7 million pawn shop stolen goods ring

Will Cleveland | Democrat and Chronicle

Show Caption Hide Caption Pawn shop fraud is helping to fuel local drug trade, police say Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan said larceny-related fraud is helping to fuel the local drug trade. (Nov. 21, 2019)

Five people were charged Thursday in separate pawn shop schemes involving $15.7 million in stolen goods.

Prosecutors allege the items were obtained through the recruitment of drug-addicted individuals to go out and steal items from local stores, prosecutors said.

The five people charged are: Thomas Nary, 35, of Rochester; Eric Finnefrock, 27, of Rochester; Ralph Swain, 30, of Farmington; Devin Tribunella, 35, of Rochester; and Wade Shadders, 22, of Rochester. They are all accused of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, selling and conspiring to sell stolen goods across state lines, and engaging in financial transactions involving the proceeds of stolen goods.

Finnefrock, Swain and Tribunella are also charged with aggravated identity theft.

Officials executed search warrants at two pawn shops — Royal Crown Pawn & Jewelry 3635 Dewey Ave. in Greece and Rochester Pawn & Gold, 1440 Dewey Ave. in Rochester — Thursday morning.

The two schemes are unrelated, authorities said. But Nary, the owner of Rochester Pawn & Gold, and his two employees, Finnefrock and Swain, are accused of reselling $12.4 million in stolen goods on eBay and Amazon between Jan. 1, 2015, and Aug. 14, 2019.

Tribunella, the owner of Royal Pawn, and his employee, Shadders, allegedly resold $3.2 million in stolen merchandise on eBay between Jan. 1, 2017, and Sept. 16, 2019.

"A lot of people look at the crime of larceny, shoplifting and think that it's not important, it's not a big deal, it's a low-level crime," Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan said, "but the losses that these retailers experience results in millions and millions of dollars of losses.

"This retail larceny fuels the drug trade in our community," Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan said. "In large part, the people who are committing these larcenies are drug-addicted. They are stealing things from retail stores and they're selling things to pawn shops and they're taking that money and buying drugs. In a lot of cases, those drugs are killing them. It's not a low-level crime. It is a big deal and this is an important arrest.

"We know that these two businesses are not the only two businesses of this type in our community. I'd like this to serve as a warning to the rest of them that we know who you are and you'll be seeing us very soon."

According to the criminal complaints, Nary, Tribunella and the other men charged targeted "individuals struggling with opiate addiction" to steal items from stores in Monroe County, including CVS, Wegmans, Target, Walmart, Kohl's, Circuit City and Home Depot.

Here’s a quick video recap of the five arrests. Authorities allege the owners and workers at two pawn shops were employing drug-addicted individuals to steal items from local stores and then reselling the items online. #roc @DandC pic.twitter.com/8ABhxNisLb — Will Cleveland (@WillCleveland13) November 21, 2019

The defendants "knowingly purchased stolen, new-in-box goods" for about 30% of their retail value and then resold the items on eBay and Amazon. The items were then shipped to buyers, many of whom were outside of New York state.

In many cases, the defendants "recruited individuals who struggle with addiction and who use the proceeds of their 'sales' of stolen merchandise to purchase illegal drugs," prosecutors said. Nary, Tribunela and the other defendants allegedly identified items they wanted to purchase based on what was in high demand on eBay. They also bought from the same individuals multiple times per week, prosecutors said.

Finnefrock has worked at RPG since April 2015, while Swain was employed there since March 2018. Shadders, meanwhile, has worked at Royal Pawn since April 2019.

Prosecutors said each pawn shop "has one of the highest volume of purchases and sales" in Monroe County.

The defendants allegedly made false and fraudulent entries in LeadsOnline, a database used by law enforcement to track stolen goods. They also violated the terms of service user agreements with eBay and Amazon.

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"The easy access to cash that these pawn shops provided to drug users who were willing to steal merchandise helped to fuel the opioid epidemic in our community," U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. said.

Kennedy said 930 people overdosed from opioids in 2018 in Monroe County. Of those, 542 individuals had a "history of selling stolen merchandise to pawn shops," Kennedy said. In 2018 and 2019, there were at least 15 instances of people selling stolen goods to the two pawn shops and overdosing within five days. Three of those instances were fatal, he said.

Kennedy said Monroe County maintains some of the highest incidents of retail theft in the country. "This prosecution demonstrates an undeniable link between property crimes and overdose deaths in our community," Kennedy said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan McGuire, who is prosecuting each case, said the year-long investigation began after an RPD officer and a Monroe County sheriff's deputy noticed the increasing crime and spoke to retailers. "It really drew the connection for us between the opioid crisis and the thefts," she said.

Greece Deputy Police Chief Casey Voelkl said the warrants were issued after a long-term, multi-agency investigation into stolen property. At each pawn shop, a box truck was brought in to hold all of the confiscated items. In Greece, officers were loading items like chainsaws into the truck.

Voelkl said search warrants were executed in Greece, Gates and Rochester.

"We're assisting other agencies, including federal law enforcement agencies, with a search warrant at this location," Voelkl said. "This is part of a collaboration with other agencies to search numerous sites around the area.

He said Greece police were expected to remain at Royal Pawn for multiple hours.

"There's a lot of stuff in there for us to go through," Voelkl said. "We're just in the process of working through that right now."

The investigation includes the Rochester Police Department, Greece Police Department, Monroe County Sheriff's Office and the agents from the Internal Revenue Service.

"It was a long process," Voelkl said.

Tribunella made news in spring 2018 when he smashed his yellow, 2008 Lamborghini into a fire hydrant near East Avenue and Argyle Street. Tribunella ran away from the accident scene that night and turned himself in to police two days later.

Kennedy said authorities seized three vehicles registered to Tribunella — a Lamborghini, a Rolls-Royce and a Porsche.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory of two years in prison that must be served consecutively to any other sentence.

"To prey on that addiction so that these individuals can line their pocketbooks and enhance their bottom line, that strikes me as particularly egregious," Kennedy said. "What we saw here today with these arrests and seizures that we made, some of them had all the toys. ...To see people that were more concerned with that, than with the lives of their fellow citizens is very concerning. We're going to continue to pursue these individuals."

WCLEVELAND@Gannett.com