U.S. District Judge Lance E. Walker sentenced Mark Pignatello, 55, of Yonkers, New York, to 52 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Pignatello pled guilty on April 24, 2019. Pignatello was also ordered to pay $20,893 in restitution.
According to court records, over three days in October 2018, Pignatello traveled across Maine and New Hampshire, visiting branches of People’s United Bank, at which he would pass or attempt to pass counterfeit checks. These checks were made out to individuals other than Pignatello. In order to facilitate his scheme, Pignatello used the Social Security numbers and other personal information of these individuals to impersonate them, as well as counterfeit driver’s licenses bearing his image, but with their personal information.
Pignatello was ultimately apprehended by the Newport, Maine police outside of the Newport branch of People’s United Bank, where his activity had been identified as fraudulent.
The U.S. Secret Service and the Bangor, Newport, and Orono Police Departments investigated the case.
-- District of Maine