A manufacturing supervisor at a luxury jewelry company has been sentenced for stealing over $1.7 million in precious metals from his employer over more than three years. Benjamin Preacher, 54, of North Attleboro, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley to 59 days in prison. This will be followed by two years of supervised release, including 10 months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service. Preacher was also ordered to forfeit $1,267,093.
The government had recommended a sentence of 30 months in prison. In June 2024, Preacher pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods and one count of engaging in unlawful monetary transactions.
From 2018 until early 2024, Preacher worked as a manufacturing supervisor at a Rhode Island facility operated by a company that sells luxury items such as jewelry made from gold, silver, and platinum. He used his position overseeing the production and security of high-end jewelry to steal scrap precious metals from the company's facility in Rhode Island. He then transported the stolen metals into Massachusetts and sold them to various businesses there.
United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Jonathan Wlodyka, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation's Boston Field Office announced the sentencing today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kriss Basil, Deputy Chief of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.