He stole identities to buy $830K of lobster, steak, wild boar. Now he's heading to prison
A Providence man who created a fake catering company to bilk food distributors out of more than $830,000 was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Thursday, U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha said.
Paul Diogenes, also known as Paul Dejullio, 50, used stolen banking information from several area restaurants and businesses to obtain $831,572 worth of lobster, sea bass, shrimp, scallops, filet, ribeye steak and wild boar, according to Cunha.
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He resold most of the food to area businesses, in some cases selling the lobster, shrimp and steaks to restaurants whose stolen information he used to get credit from food distributors, Cunha said.
When law-enforcement officers tried to arrest Diogenes behind an East Providence business on Aug. 3, he escaped after ramming his car into two FBI vehicles, drove toward and nearly hit an FBI officer, then slammed into a delivery van parked nearby, Cunha said.
Diogenes wasn't taken into custody until nine days later, when the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI found him in a hotel in Middleboro, Massachusetts. With Diogenes was a briefcase containing $116,404, which will be forfeited to the government, Cunha said.
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Diogenes pleaded guilty on Dec. 17 to wire fraud and assault of a federal officer. U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. sentenced him to 120 months in federal prison and three years of federal supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of $831,572.
Diogenes was described in court documents as “an unrepentant and compulsive fraudster.” Court records show he has been convicted at least 34 times, including multiple convictions for fraud-related criminal activity and for violent behavior toward law enforcers.
jperry@providencejournal.com
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence man gets 10 years for $830k catering scam, assaulting fed
