PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island roofing contractor has been sentenced to a year and one day in prison after admitting to defrauding Home Depot out of more than half a million dollars.
Attorney General Zachary A. Cunha of Rhode Island announced that Luiyi Taveras-Garcia of Providence, R.I., participated in a scheme that used stolen or fraudulently created business credit accounts to defraud Home Depot of $600,000 in building, roofing, electrical, plumbing and other contractor supplies at stores in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
Taveras-Garcia, 35, entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on Sept. 7. At that time, he also admitted to a federal judge that he purchased construction materials for use in his roofing business from another member of the conspiracy who allegedly obtained those materials from Home Depot using stolen credit information.
During the sentencing on Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy sentenced Tavares-Garcia to 12 months and one day of incarceration and three years of federal supervised release. He was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $46,749 to Citibank, who provided lines of customers to Home Depot customers.
A second defendant, Abel Bier Romero, 29, of Cranston, is awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.