B U F F A L O N E W S

STATE SUPREME COURT
8 plead guilty in identity theft, credit card scam
By MATT GRYTA
News Staff Reporter
5/6/2005

   Amer Abdallah, owner of the Lockport Athletic & Fitness Club and former world kickboxing champion, his brother and six others pleaded guilty Thursday in Buffalo to a massive computer-based credit card and identity theft scheme that netted them about $450,000 over the last two years. Identified as the masterminds of the scam, Abdallah, 27, and Marcus Brown Jr., 35, were told by State Supreme Court Justice Christopher J. Burns they each face prison terms of three to nine years.
   During pre-indictment plea proceedings before Burns, Abdallah and Brown were also told they must pay $175,000 restitution each to a number of national credit card companies, banks and individual credit card holders hurt by the scheme.
   Abdallah, of Sweet Home Road, Amherst, and Brown, of Phyllis Avenue, both pleaded guilty to felony scheme to defraud, grand larceny and identify theft charges. Candace K. Vogel, a financial crimes prosecutor with the Erie County District Attorney's office, told the judge prosecutors won't press to have Abdallah and Brown sentenced to the maximum 15-year prison terms they could receive because they saved taxpayers the cost of long, drawn-out trials.
   Vogel also stressed that the court-ordered restitution from the two men, along with $96,535 in restitution to be paid by Abdallah's brother Jihad Abdallah and the five other defendants, were also factors in the pre-indictment plea deals in the case. Jihad Abdallah, 26, also of Sweet Home Road, pleaded guilty to a felony stolen property charge and admitted he was handling eBay sales of large plasma-screen televisions his brother and cohorts were obtaining through identity theft between late 2003 and last year.
   Jihad Abdallah's lawyer, Herbert L. Greenman, told the judge his client merely sold televisions "he was given" by his brother and others. Jihad Abdallah faces $35,000 in court-ordered restitution.
   In addition to the Abdallahs, both forced to surrender their Jordanian passports to the State Police following their arrests in late January, and Brown, Burns took pleas from:
• Loay Abdellatif, 35, of East River Road, Grand Island, on charges of identity theft and scheme to defraud. He faces $35,674 in restitution.
• Tashia Pratcher, 28, of Rounds Avenue, pleaded guilty to a petit larceny charge but faces $8,000 in restitution for her role in the identity theft ring.
• Peter Maselli, 33, of 82nd Street, Niagara Falls, pleaded guilty to computer trespassing and criminal facilitation.
• Tonya Centner, 28, of Park Lane Circle, Lockport, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor attempted scheme to defraud.
   State Police Senior Investigator Edward J. Kennedy said the investigation began last July after a retired Elma physician came to the State Police Boston Barracks.
   That doctor informed investigators that he had been advised by a credit card company that a long-dormant credit card of his had run up over $18,000 in new charges.
   Kennedy and Vogel identified Amer Abdallah as a former light-heavyweight champion of the World Kickboxing Association and a former holder of the Karate International Commission's national light-heavyweight title.
   None of the eight defendants could be reached for comment. All were allowed to remain free pending their July 25 sentencings.