An Orange County businessman accused of defrauding online shoppers of more than $110,000 is in custody today.
A federal grand jury indicted Daniel Peter Brucato of Newport Coast on six wire fraud counts for using a Yahoo email account and alleged wholesale prices to cheat buyers of items such as Rolex watches, shirts and hats.
According to the indictment, Brucato, 54, promised to ship products after receiving payments but ignored his guarantee and then “falsely represented to the victims that the goods were delayed or lost in transit.”
The businessman used the funds to pay rent on a home in the gated, oceanfront community, credit cards bills and a Porsche Cayenne loan, according to the indictment.
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Though Brucato was indicted in July, federal agents didn't arrest him until Aug 14.
A federal prosecutor has requested no bail because he believes Brucato is a serious flight risk.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert N. Block scheduled an Aug. 19 bail hearing to consider the government's argument.
Until that hearing, Brucato–who is represented by a public defender–will remain in the custody of U.S. marshals.
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CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.