Conman Sentenced for Billing Fraud Scam

Modified: November 20, 2019 3:00pm

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11/12/2019

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 49-year-old Randall Keith McGovern of Niagara Falls has been sentenced by Erie County Court Judge Suzanne Maxwell Barnes to 9-18 years in state prison as a persistent felony offender.

During the summer of 2017, the defendant scammed three local businesses (Dunn Tire/Exxpress Tire Delivery, Shanor Electric Supply, Inc., and McCarthy Tire) out of more than $10,000 of inventory. He placed telephone orders for inventory, which was then billed to an unwitting third party (Joe Basil Chevrolet, Ciminelli Real Estate and Modern Disposal) then delivered to the defendant.

A jury convicted McGovern on all five counts in the indictment against him: one count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, one count of Forgery in the Second Degree, one count of Attempted Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, and one count of Petit Larceny, in April 2019.

DA Flynn commends the investigative work of Detective John Politowski of the NFTA Police Department as well was Detectives Eric Broska and Terrence Griffin of the Cheektowaga Police Department.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Christopher P. Jurusik and Brian P. Dassero of the DA’s Special Investigations and Prosecutions Bureau.