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E. Gary Smith, the owner of the now-closed Menalto Cleaners on Menalto Avenue in Menlo Park, was ordered by a San Mateo County judge on Friday, May 5, to pay $361,927 in restitution to customers whose credit card numbers he used to make unauthorized charges, according to a report from the District Attorney’s Office.
Mr. Smith, 66, was sentenced to six years in state prison in March after pleading no contest in July 2016 to one count of fraudulent use of an access card for grand theft and seven counts of identity theft, all felonies.
The court on Friday also ordered Mr. Smith to be transported to prison to start serving his sentence, prosecutors said.
Repayments are due to institutions as well as individuals. Judge Barbara J. Mallach ordered Mr. Smith to pay $103,305.79 to Chase Bank USA, $56,357 to American Express, $27,685.30 to TransFirst Merchant, and an amount yet to be determined to CitiBank, prosecutors said.
He owes $38,822 to the Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club, though he contested a $17,300 charge from August 2013, saying that he had no memory of it, prosecutors said. The court rejected Mr. Smith’s defense that the absence of a memory excluded restitution.
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Mr. Smith owes a total of $135,579 to six individuals and amounts still to be determined to 14 other people, prosecutors said.
Attorney Michael Armstrong of Redwood City, who represented Mr. Smith, said he had no comment on the results of the restitution hearing.
At Menalto Cleaners, Mr. Smith kept his customers’ credit card numbers on file for monthly billing for dry cleaning services, but used the cards to make unauthorized charges, prosecutors said. After two customers came forward, police investigated and heard from 19 alleged victims who, together, claimed to have lost over $350,000.
During the sentencing hearing, prosecutors asked that Mr. Smith be sent to prison for eight years. At the hearing, Mr. Smith read a statement in which he asked for mercy, saying that he was aware of the trust he had betrayed and that he had a plan for repayment when he got out of prison.
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By Dave Boyce
By Dave Boyce
By Dave Boyce
I’d like to know how much money he repaid over the last two years. Likely zero. And, what’s his “plan” to pay back almost $400,000 when he gets out of prison?
Speaking of prison, I’m surprised that he wasn’t there yet. Is he now?
I thought the guy SMITH was shady many yrs. ago and I never returned. I was right. I was never victimized!