Gym owner gets 3 years in prison

Posted

Thomas Donovan, 39, of Island Park, owner of 5 Star Kickboxing — formerly KOXO Kickboxing — in Oceanside, has been sentenced to a three-year prison sentence for stealing thousands of dollars in merchandise using his customers’ credit cards and having a loaded gun in his home.

On April 10, acting Nassau Supreme Court Justice Jerald Carter sentenced Donovan to three years in prison and three years of post-release supervision. Carter also ordered Donovan to pay $17,719.27 to Home Depot and $690.50 to an Oceanside scrap metal recycler

Donovan pled guilty on Feb. 25 to second degree Attempted Criminal Possession of a Weapon and third degree Grand Larceny.

“With this sentence, Mr. Donovan will be held accountable for abusing the trust of his customers by using their personal financial information to steal,” said Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas. “My office will continue our efforts to combat this growing sector of financial crime to protect consumers and businesses.”

Donovan obtained the credit card information used to pay for the Home Depot merchandise from clients of his kickboxing gym. He worked with an unnamed partner who visited various Home Depot locations in Nassau and Suffolk counties, selected items for purchase, brought them to the Pro Desk and gave the cashier the name and phone number of a fictitious contractor.

A Home Depot employee would call the phone number to obtain credit card information for payment. Donovan would answer the phone, assume the identity of the fictitious contractor and use account numbers, security codes and expiration dates of his customer’s credit cards. As part of the scheme, Donovan also sold stolen wire to an Oceanside scrap metal recycler.

During the investigation, eight search warrants were issued and executed at Donovan’s Island Park home, business and vehicles. The police found a loaded .25 caliber pistol and thousands of dollars of Home Deport merchandise. He was arrested at his home on Dec. 9.

Members of 5 Star Kickboxing and KOXO Kickboxing who suspect unauthorized charges to their credit card accounts should contact Singas’s tipline for crimes in Nassau County, at (516) 571-7755.