The 52-year-old Warwick man swore at the investigators as they went through his home, finding allergy medicine and makeup products stickered with the logos of stores such as CVS and Walgreens.
The products in Norman L. Cipriano’s basement were among some 60,000 items seized as part of a sweeping investigation into a Rhode Island-based retail theft operation that targeted retailers across the country, U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Cunha said Monday.
And both Cipriano and 59-year-old local counterpart, Patrick M. Vigneau, of Cranston, had high-level wholesaling roles in the scheme, which heavily relied on shoplifting, and netted about $12.3 million in sales over a period of several years, Cunha said.
“If I were younger, I would whip your a** (expletive),” Cipriano told investigators as they went through his home on Sept. 11, according to records filed in federal court.
Two Rhode Island ‘diverters’ under arrest, prosecutors say
Both men were arrested and taken into custody earlier Monday after last week’s raids at locations in Pawtucket, Warwick, and Cranston brought new momentum to a three-year investigation carried out by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations and the Warwick Police Department.