Rochester man pleads guilty for his role in selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stolen items

Date: Oct. 8, 2024

Contact: [email protected]

Rochester, NY - U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Mark Remein of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford to conspiracy to transport stolen goods in interstate commerce, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas M. Testani, who is handling the case, stated that Remein and co-defendant Derek Verna operated West Ridge Connections, a secondhand shop located on West Ridge Road in Rochester. Between January 2020, and November 2023, Remein and Verna repeatedly bought goods that they knew were shoplifted from Rochester area retail stores. Remein and Verna would inform the individuals stealing the goods (commonly referred to as "boosters") what products were the most valuable, and the boosters would then bring those items to West Ridge Connections where Remein and Verna would sell the items on eBay for a fraction of the true retail value. Remein and Verna would use one of several eBay accounts. Because eBay accounts were frequently shut down for suspicious activity, Remein and Verna needed to constantly create new accounts to be used. Remein and Verna would use each other's personal information or that of associates to set up the new accounts. The goods were advertised as "New" or "New-In-Box" and priced below retail value, although the price was well in excess of the money Remein and Verna had paid the boosters. Upon selling the items, the stolen merchandise was shipped to buyers, including those located outside the state of New York. Remein and Verna conspired to sell and ship more than $445,964 worth of stolen goods to buyers.

Charges are pending against Derek Verna.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), under the direction of Thomas Fattorusso, Special Agent-in-Charge, and the Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Smith.

Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 4, 2025, before Judge Wolford.

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.