Wayne County Man Pleads Guilty To Wire And Identity Fraud Charges

DETROIT — A Wayne County man who authorities said wore prosthetic facemasks to hide his identity has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity fraud in a scheme to defraud and obtain money from the accounts of Global Payments Gaming Services Inc.'s VIP preferred program patrons, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

John Christopher Colletti, 56, of Harper Woods, pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon before U.S. District Judge Linda Parker in the U.S. District Court in Detroit, acting U.S. Attorney Saima Mohsin said.

“This defendant went to extraordinary lengths to hide his identity in order to steal others identities and money,” Mohsin said. “I commend the work of the FBI agents for tracking Colletti down and helping bring him to justice.”

Colletti faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment for the wire fraud charge and a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years in prison on the identity fraud charge, authorities said.

He is scheduled for sentencing on July 7.

"John Colletti stole the identities of dozens of innocent people, dragging them all into his criminal scheme," said Timothy Waters, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office. “The impacts of identity theft are serious and far-reaching for victims, and the FBI will work hard to ensure anyone who engages in this type of conduct is held accountable.”

According to court records, in or around April 26, 2019, and continuing through March 12, 2020, Colletti, with the intent to defraud, unlawfully accessed accounts in the names of several individual victims using GPGS’s kiosks located within various casino properties in at least two states, including the MGM Grand in Detroit.

Colletti used names, driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security Numbers assigned to known people in order to access one or more accounts in their names, authorities said.

Once he had access to the accounts, authorities said Colletti initiated numerous transactions, withdrawing thousands of dollars from these accounts. He made the withdrawals while attempting to disguise himself by wearing one or more full prosthetic facemasks, attorneys said. Colletti defrauded his victims out of approximately $125,740.

Colletti had in his possession pieces of personally identifiable information for approximately 300 identities, as well as several full prosthetic facemasks, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

GPGS assumed the loss on behalf of its VIP Preferred Program patrons, who were the individual victims. As part of his guilty plea, Colletti will be required to pay restitution to GPGS in the full amount of $125,740.