TRENTON N.J. – A Middlesex County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 41 months in prison for shoplifting Barnes and Noble merchandise, selling the goods on eBay and failing to report the illicit proceeds to the IRS, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Dominick James Izzo, 50, of Piscataway, New Jersey, and Port Orange, Florida, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson to an information charging him with one count of transportation of stolen goods and one count of tax evasion.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court: Izzo admitted that he stole merchandise from Barnes & Noble stores in New Jersey, Florida and elsewhere using a “booster bag” lined with aluminum to evade anti-theft alarms.

He then listed the stolen merchandise on eBay using nominee seller accounts to conceal his identity.

Izzo accepted payment for the stolen merchandise from purchasers via nominee PayPal accounts. Once Izzo received funds via domestic wire transfer from the purchasers, he shipped the stolen merchandise from New Jersey and Florida to the purchasers in several different states.

For the tax years 2009, 2010 and 2011, Izzo admitted he intentionally failed to report $399,485 in income he received from the sale of stolen merchandise from Barnes & Noble and other businesses. Izzo owed the government $67,360.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Wolfson sentenced Izzo to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $207,000.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Maria L. Kelokates, and special agents of IRS–Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Senior Litigation Counsel Andrew Leven and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lakshmi Srinivasan Herman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark. Defense Counsel: Patrick McMahon Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Newark.