Troy Man Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud Charges

ALBANY, NEW YORK – John R. Paeglow III, age 64, of Troy, New York, pled guilty today to defrauding a commercial finance company.  The company paid more than $400,000 to Paeglow’s book printing business for the right to collect payment for the sales of books that, in fact, had not been sold nor shipped.

The announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon and Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge, New York Region, United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General (DoL-OIG).

As part of his guilty plea to 10 counts of wire fraud, Paeglow admitted that, between October and December 2014, he fraudulently solicited and received more than $400,000 on behalf of his now-closed Castleton, New York-based book printing business Integrated Book Technology, Inc./Hamilton Printing (“IBT/Hamilton”).  Paeglow caused the submission of fraudulent invoices and forged shipping documents to a New Jersey-based commercial finance company, which paid him money on the basis of book sales and shipments that Paeglow falsified. 

As part of his plea agreement, Paeglow agreed to pay full restitution to the victim finance company.  Paeglow also agreed to pay $11,410 in restitution to reimburse the union that represented the IBT/Hamilton employees whose health care premiums Paeglow was charged with embezzling.

Sentencing is scheduled for December 9, 2021, in Albany, before Senior United States District Judge Frederick J. Scullin, Jr.  Paeglow faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to the greater of $250,000 or twice the pecuniary gain to the defendant or the loss to any victim, and a term of supervised release of up to 3 years.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.

This case was jointly investigated by the U.S. DoL-OIG and the New York State Police Financial Crimes Unit, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emmet J. O’Hanlon.