A federal judge Wednesday sentenced Devin Tribunella, the pawnbroker who admitted to a multimillion criminal scheme, to 48 months in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday afternoon.
Tribunella, who owned Royal Crown Pawn & Jewelry at 3635 Dewey Ave. in Greece, recruited individuals who were often drug-addicted to go out and steal items from local stores. Tribunella, now 39, would buy the items for a fraction of their retail prices and then resell them on eBay or Amazon.
He profited $3.2 million between Jan. 1, 2017, and Sept. 16, 2019, according to prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud last year. Under the plea, Tribunella agreed to forfeit nearly $150,000 from two PayPal accounts and four vehicles — a 2008 Lamborghini, a 2014 Mercedes-Benz, a 2014 Rolls Royce and a 2015 Porsche.
It was Tribunella who in 2018 crashed his Lamborghini into a fire hydrant on East Avenue then ran away on foot, an incident that generated local news because of the value of the abandoned car. He also boasted about his ostentatious lifestyle through social media posts.
In court papers, Tribunella’s attorney, James Doyle, maintained that it was that very lifestyle and “conspicuous consumption in terms of automobiles, jewelry and gambling” that prompted Tribunella’s local “notoriety.” The crash with the Lamborghini prompted Tribunella to become “a public figure,” Doyle wrote.
Tribunella has asked for a sentence below that recommended in his plea agreement of 46 to 57 months. Doyle wrote that Tribunella is not a danger and that his crime was non-violent. There were no reported opioid deaths linked to his crimes, according to Doyle.