TRENTON, N.J. – A part owner of Bayway Lumber, a Linden, New Jersey, company that sold commercial and industrial products to numerous public and private entities, was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud customers out of $708,386, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Robert R. Dattilo, 61, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Judge Sheridan imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From 2007 to November 2015, Dattilo conspired with others to defraud certain customers by engaging in fraudulent business practices, including overbilling, charging for more expensive items or larger quantities of items, and providing free items to employees of customers, then recouping the cost of the items (and additional profits) by overbilling and fraudulent billing.

At Dattilo’s direction, Bayway Lumber inflated the prices on items sold or intentionally failed to provide the prices called for in contractual agreements between Bayway Lumber and customers, including the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and its successor entities – Rutgers University and University Hospital; the City of Elizabeth; and the...