Blackstone man convicted of defrauding his former employer

BLACKSTONE, Mass. (WLNE) — A Blackstone man was sentenced Monday for using other identities to defraud his former employer.

The U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts said Anthony Prizio, 49, was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $431,399 in restitution to his former employer.

Officials said Prizio stole the money while working as a manager for a company that operates a national chain of thrift stores.

Prizio had access to the Worcester store's timekeeping system for employee work hours, repeatedly entering false hours worked for employees from January 2019 to July 2021, including for employees who no longer worked there.

Authorities said Prizio had debit cards issued in other people's names, which he then used for his personal use.

Prizio also made it appear that the store was processing more items than it actually did and recorded false sick and bereavement payments for employees in an attempt to conceal the fraudulent activity, officials say.

The prosecutor's office said Prizio did not pay taxes on any of the income from the fraudulent scheme and will have to pay $86,190 to the Internal Revenue Service.

Prizio pleaded guilty in February 2024 to six counts of wire fraud, one count of tax evasion and one count of unauthorized use of another's identity.

Authorities said his three-year prison sentence would be followed by three years of supervised release.