OCEAN CITY — An Ocean City business owner who pleaded guilty last year to one count of wire fraud for his role in a $2.5 million counterfeit sports memorabilia scheme carried out over the Internet was sentenced this week to five years in federal prison and was ordered to pay $500,000 in restitution.
In January 2016, Ocean City Brewing Company owner Joshua Shores, 42, of Pennsylvania and Ocean City, was charged in U.S. District Court in connection with a $2.5 million fraud scheme involving counterfeit sports memorabilia sold over the Internet through his various companies over a period from January 2008 to May 2013. Shores, who owns and operates the Ocean City Brewing Company, created various Internet businesses in Pennsylvania and Maryland to traffic counterfeit and fraudulent sports memorabilia.
Last March, Shores entered an agreement in which he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Back in U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania on Thursday, Shores was sentenced to five years in prison, followed by two years of supervised probation upon his release. He was also ordered to pay $500,000 restitution, some of which will be used to compensate the victims in his vast fraudulent sports memorabilia scheme.
Shores was facing a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison along with the forfeiture of a residential property on Chicago Avenue in Ocean City along with various vehicles and other property allegedly obtained through the proceeds of the fraud scheme and many of those forfeitures have already been conducted. However, not listed among the property for potential forfeiture is the Ocean City Brewing Company on Coastal Highway in Ocean City or its sister brewery and restaurant operation in Bel Air.
According to charging documents, Shores affixed onto the counterfeit sports jerseys and sports items fraudulent autographs purported to be the authentic autograph of notable athletes and sports figures. Shores allegedly rented mailboxes and established mail receiving services with companies located in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Unsuspecting buyers purchased the fraudulent memorabilia from Shores’ Internet businesses through PayPal and Amazon accounts he created.
In one example, in September 2012, a federal agent operating in an undercover capacity in New Jersey conducted an online purchase of a Cliff Lee-autographed Philadelphia Phillies jersey from Stadium Authentics for $249.95 plus shipping. The item’s description as it appeared on Stadium Authentics website stated “This is an authentic Cliff Lee Philadelphia Phillies Majestic Baseball Jersey autographed by Cliff Lee. This authentic jersey was hand-signed and the signature is not a print.”
Scathing Memorandum
Earlier this year in advance of Thursday’s sentencing hearing, a pre-sentence memorandum filed by U.S. Attorney for Pennsylvania Bruce Brandler characterized Shores as a gifted and talented con man who carried out the fraud scheme over multiple years and called for the judge to sentence him outside the accepted guidelines for the offense.
“Joshua Shores is an adept con man,” the memorandum reads. “He has to be in order to accomplish his lengthy and lucrative scheme of fraud and deceit. He has cheated people and institutions at every turn in order to achieve a façade of wealth, professional success and status in his community.”
The prosecution’s sentencing memorandum asserted despite Shore’s willingness to accept responsibility and plead guilty, the long pattern of deceit and fraud showed his true character.
“In similar fashion, he is now attempting to manipulate the court into thinking that his presence before the court is almost accidental, just a blip on the radar of an otherwise exemplary life,” the memorandum reads. “The defendant claims to be a man of outstanding character. However, one’s true character is what shows when no one is looking. In this case, when no one was looking, Joshua Shores hid behind hundreds of different email addresses, bank accounts, seller accounts, his mother and the identities of others where no one could see the man behind all the falsities. That is where Shores showed his true character. The government is respectfully asking the court to see Joshua Shores for the fraudster that he is, the same fraudster who cheated thousands of innocent customers out of their money for just one reason-greed.”
Brandler’s sentencing memorandum pointed out Shore’s carried out the extensive scheme for years without ever paying Uncle Sam.
“It is noteworthy that the amount of sales attributable to the defendant’s Internet sports memorabilia business, verified and confirmed from May 2004 through March 2013 is $3.5 million,” the prosecution’s sentencing memorandum reads. “During this same time period, the defendant failed to file any federal income tax returns of any kind. None.”
The rather scathing sentencing memorandum submitted to the judge points out a continued pattern of deception and fraud for personal gain even after Shores allegedly new his memorabilia business was under investigation by the FBI. For example, in July 2014, his vehicle was found illegally by Ocean City Police in a handicapped spot with a forged handicapped parking placard hanging from the mirror. When questioned, Shores first told Ocean City Police the vehicle belonged to his mother and he didn’t know where the handicap placard came from. When questioned further, Shores told Ocean City Police the handicap placard belonged to his deceased grandmother and that he had taken it only to help a friend who was handicapped.
In another example of Shore’s continued pattern of deceit and fraud, in 2013 he filed for food stamps from the state of Maryland, claiming he had not worked in almost a year and that his total worth was around $46. That claim and subsequent issuance of food stamps came after he had already broken ground on his new Ocean City Brewing Company in Ocean City and there had already been a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new business.
The prosecution’s sentencing memorandum outlined many of the details of Shore’s fraud scheme. For example, it described a “signing station” in his warehouse office with different color permanent markers, materials used to make phony certificates of authenticity and a pedestal covered with black felt used to take pictures of “autographed” memorabilia. The memo also describes three binders filed alphabetically with close-up computer printouts of professional athletes’ signatures used as “go-bys” for the autographs forged by Shores.
“The defendant’s selfishness and greed in this regard is breathtaking,” the prosecution’s sentencing memorandum reads. “This was not momentary lapse in judgment for the defendant. His scheme spanned a number of years, involved skillful planning and coordination and the careful and calculated selection of tools to avoid detection. He simply lied to people at every turn.”
Shores’ Attorney Responds
Shores’ attorney Robert Biddle responded to the prosecution’s scathing sentencing memorandum he characterized for its “angry tone” with a sentencing memorandum of his own. Biddle’s response asserted the prosecution’s memo over-represented the seriousness of the defendant’s past criminal history and the likelihood that the defendant would be a repeat offender. Instead, Biddle’s memo characterized Shores as a responsible businessman and family man who suffered a lapse in judgment and had owned up to the crime. Biddle’s memo asked the judge to consider a sentence on the lower side of the guidelines.
“Stripped of speculative conjecture and unproven allegations, the record before the court at sentencing will be that of a defendant who accepted responsibility for selling sports items with forged signatures, is remorseful for his misconduct, knows that he could have been successful with the bounds of the law as shown by his successful management of the Ocean City Brewing Company, knows that customers were hurt by his fraud and knows that he is going to prison,” Biddle’s pre-sentencing memorandum reads.
Shores Own Letter To Judge
Just about a week before Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Shores sent his own letter to U.S. District Judge John Jones pointing out the investigation and subsequent guilty plea forever changed his life.
“There is no denying anything and I take full responsibility for selling sports memorabilia which was counterfeit and/or had counterfeit signatures on them,” the letter reads. “I have to deal with what I did for the rest of my life, not only destroying me life but everyone around me.”
Shores’ letter to the judge points out how his fraud scheme, the investigation and ultimately the guilty plea has not only affected him, but also everyone around him. He said the Ocean City Brewing Company had weathered the public relations storm and was gaining back the public’s trust.
“One of the hardest challenges I have faced is my situation coming out, almost bankrupting Ocean City Brewing Company and embarrassing my children and family,” the letter reads. “My illegal activities almost buried Ocean City Brewing Company, but with hard work we are all working through this and customers are coming back. We are rebuilding our reputation.”
Shores’ letter made an impassioned plea to judge to consider leniency.
“I deeply feel everyone deserves a second chance,” the letter reads. “I lost everything when the world came crashing down. I will say I am lucky to have the support of my family and friends that helped build the brewing company and hopefully we survive by the time I am released. Everyone makes mistakes as I have made mistakes in my life, but again, this one by far tops them all. I am asking that you understand, be lenient, show mercy and let me prove what I can do. I am a good person. Let me show you want I can do and can guarantee you will not be disappointed.”
