Blackstone Man Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Defrauding Former Employer, Identity Theft and Tax Evasion

BOSTON – A Blackstone man was sentenced today in federal court in Worcester for defrauding his former employer – a company that operates a national chain of second-hand retail stores – by using others’ identities and repeatedly falsifying working hours for employees and taking all the wages for himself. 

Anthony Prizio, 49, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman to three years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Judge Guzman also ordered Prizio to pay $431,399 in restitution to his former employer and $86,190 to the Internal Revenue Service. In February 2024, Prizio pleaded guilty to six counts of wire fraud, one count of tax evasion and one count of unauthorized use of another’s identity. 

From January 2019 until July 2021, while serving as manager of the company’s Worcester store location, Prizio devised and carried out a scheme to steal over $430,000. As the store manager, Prizio had access to the store’s timekeeping system for employees’ working hours, human resources portal and un-activated payroll paycards issued to certain employees for wages. Prizio used his position as store manager to repeatedly enter false hours worked for employees, including employees who no longer worked there. As part of the scheme, Prizio caused payroll debit cards to be issued in others’ names, which he then took for himself.  Prizio used some or all of the wages for his own use on personal expenditures. Additionally, Prizio took steps to conceal his fraud by misrepresenting the productivity of the Worcester store to make it appear that the store processed more items, as well as by entering false paid sick and bereavement for employees to fraudulently cause payment for fictitious hours without adversely affecting the productivity measurement of the store. Prizio failed to pay taxes on any of the income derived from this fraudulent scheme.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Boston Division; and Harry Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaitlin J. Brown of the Worcester Branch Office prosecuted the case.