The owner of a Buffalo-area collection agency who threatened and coerced individuals into making payments on debts that were both real and fake, has been sentenced to 78 months in prison.
The sentence was handed down today by a District Court judge in New York on Alan Ceccarelli. Ceccarelli, who went by the names Steve Jantrowski, Daniel Hamilton and Scott Richmond, used company names including G&B Check Services, Check & Arbitration Services, Dudley & Associates, National Check Services and Franklin & Ruggiero when collecting.
Ceccarelli, 31, had previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Among the schemes used by Ceccarelli to try and coerce payments from individuals were among the greatest hits used by illegal collectors nationwide. Those include posing as government and law enforcement officials when contacting individuals, telling individuals that they were calling from a location near their house and would be arriving shortly to serve them with court papers unless a payment was made immediately, and spoofing the phone numbers of police departments and local private attorneys when making phone calls.
Ceccarelli cited a decade-long addiction to cocaine, heroin, and crack cocaine as the motivation for his crimes.
