The 36-year-old was changing UPC codes on products to get high-price merchandise for a lower cost and then reselling the items.
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Damian Gasdaska
Prosecutors say Damien Alexander Gasdaska, 36, of the first block of Summit Avenue, worked with Eugene Joseph Romano, 34, of Upper Saucon Township, and another man to identify cheaper and costlier items by the same manufacturer at the stores, according to a (Doylestown, Pa.) Intelligencer report on phillyburbs.com.
Gasdaska, who has lived in Bethlehem and Allentown, would use his home computer to create a UPC label for the cheaper item. He would return to the store and affix it to the more expensive product, and they would target younger cashiers to check out, the report said.
Authorities used store video to document the scam between February and July 2011, although it could have dated as far back as 2008, the website says. They bought $24,933 worth of Target merchandise for $3,672 during the six months, according to the report.
A store was set up on eBay to sell the products from Bose and Dyson, among other companies, the website said. Since 2008, $172,000 worth of merchandise had been sold through the store, according to the report.
Target stores in Northampton, Lehigh, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Luzerne and Philadelphia counties were stung by the scam, the Intelligencer reports.
Cheltenham Township police, working with Target security officials, unraveled the case and filed charges against Gasdaska in 46 incidents, phillyburbs.com says. He pleaded guilty Dec. 21. He had been free on $70,000 bail.
"I know what I did was foolish," Gasdaska told county Judge Thomas C. Branca before the sentence was handed down, the website reported. "I used poor judgment, made bad decisions and I am throwing myself on the mercy of the court."
The judge said Gasdaska, who the prosecutor called a "one-man crime wave," is a college graduate with a long rap sheet, the website said.
"You used your education in the wrong way," the judge reportedly told the married father of a young child. "You had chances in the past to become a law-abiding citizen and didn’t. While I don’t agree with the commonwealth that you can’t be rehabilitated, I have to balance that with the seriousness of your crimes."
Gasdaska's attorney said Gasdaska turned to theft because his criminal record was keeping him from finding decent-paying work, the website said.
Romano, described by authorities along with the third suspect as a "minor" player, is free on $50,000 bail and awaits trial, according to court records and the website.
