A federal judge in Buffalo sentenced a man who posed as a sheriff’s deputy and an attorney to collect purported consumer debts to five years of probation, declining to impose a prison term that federal guidelines pegged at 33 to 41 months.
Nicholas Janes, 40, of the Town of Tonawanda, N.Y., was sentenced on Friday by Judge John L. Sinatra Jr. on a mail fraud conviction that carried a statutory maximum of 20 years. The sentence includes six months of home detention with a curfew and electronic monitoring, restitution, and conditions barring Janes from working in debt collection without prior approval from the Probation Office. Sinatra also ordered Janes to write an apology letter to each victim, and said Janes must supply the envelopes and pay for the postage.
“You really did torture these people over and over,” Sinatra told Janes, according to a published report, adding that he probably did not deserve the break he was receiving. The judge said he weighed the harm to victims he described as living paycheck to paycheck against the prospect of foster care for Janes’ 10-year-old son. Defense attorney James Quinn Auricchio said Janes is the sole custodial parent with no other family able to reliably care for the child. “I’m not particularly in love with this outcome,” Sinatra said.
Janes admitted in his plea agreement to defrauding more than 500 people of $420,812.92. Sinatra ordered restitution of $298,700 to 130 victims, the figure and victim count Auricchio said the government could substantiate.
Prosecutors said Janes telephoned consumers nationwide, told them they owed money on an unpaid loan, and identified himself as a local sheriff’s deputy who would pursue criminal charges unless they paid immediately. He also posed as an attorney at fictitious firms, including entities identified as The Nichols Law Group, The Nicholas Law Group, and The Offices of Pachulski, Mueller and Barnes. Victims were directed to send USPS money orders by overnight mail to addresses Janes controlled, including business mailboxes in Ann Arbor, Mich., that forwarded to his residence.
Investigators opened the case in May 2023 after hundreds of hand-addressed Express Mail envelopes arrived at the Tonawanda address from senders across the country. Consumer complaint databases showed a pattern of debt collection fraud complaints tied to the address.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Franz M. Wright sought 41 months and rested on his prior court filing, which stated that Janes chose to intimidate and deceive people to enrich himself. “I acknowledge what I did was wrong,” Janes told the court.
