A federal judge in Buffalo sentenced a man who posed as a sheriff’s deputy and an attorney to collect purported consumer debts to five years of probation, declining to impose a prison term that federal guidelines pegged at 33 to 41 months.
Nicholas Janes, 40, of the Town of Tonawanda, N.Y., was sentenced on Friday by Judge John L. Sinatra Jr. on a mail fraud conviction that carried a statutory maximum of 20 years. The sentence includes six months of home detention with a curfew and electronic monitoring, restitution, and conditions barring Janes from working in debt collection without prior approval from the Probation Office. Sinatra also ordered Janes to write an apology letter to each victim, and said Janes must supply the envelopes and pay for the postage.
“You really did torture these people over and over,” Sinatra told Janes, according to a published report, adding that he probably did not deserve the break he was receiving. The judge said he weighed the harm to victims he described as living paycheck to paycheck against the prospect of foster care for Janes’ 10-year-old son. Defense attorney James Quinn Auricchio said Janes is the sole custodial parent with no other family able to reliably care for the child. “I’m not particularly in love with this outcome,” Sinatra said…