Career Con-Man Sentenced to Nearly Six Years

A ‘career con-man’ with twenty-one previous convictions for fraud has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for devising a scheme to deposit counterfeit bank checks into bank accounts he controlled then withdrawing some or all of the funds, and for violating the terms of supervised release on a previous federal conviction for fraud.

Michael P. Tatro, 45, was sentenced on Friday by U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith to 46 months in prison for bank fraud and to a consecutive sentence of 24 months in prison for violating the terms of supervised release. Tatro was also ordered to serve 5 years of supervised release upon completion of his current prison term and to pay restitution to the banks defrauded in the amount of $45,427.91.

Tatro’s sentence is announced by United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha and Ted A. Arruda, Resident Agent in Charge of the Providence Office of the U.S. Secret Service.

Tatro pleaded guilty on January 30, 2015, to bank fraud.

At the time of his guilty plea, Tatro admitted to the court that on October 1, 2013, he opened a business account which he controlled at Bank Rhode Island. Tatro admitted that between December 19 and December 30, 2013, he deposited into the account counterfeit cashier’s checks totaling $108,995. Tatro admitted that after making the deposits he took steps to quickly withdraw monies from the account.

In addition, Tatro admitted to the court that on December 30, 2013, and on January 2, 2014, he deposited checks he wrote on his Bank Road Island business account into an account in his name at Greenwood Credit Union and then quickly withdrew monies. Bank Rhode Island returned the checks unpaid to Greenwood Credit Union.

The court found that at the time Tatro defrauded Bank Rhode Island and Greenwood Credit Union he had violated the terms of supervised release on a previous conviction for bank and tax fraud. In January 2009 he was sentenced to 51 months imprisonment to be followed by 5 years supervised release.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee H. Vilker.

The matter was investigated by the United States Secret Service.