‘Missing’ Swimmer Sentenced to 5 Years

A Massachusetts man who faked his own disappearance off La Jolla Shores in February was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Boston on Wednesday, according to SouthCoastToday.com.  James Repetto, a former Ocean Spray employee, was charged with defrauding his former employer of more than $1.3 million, ordered to pay restitution, and sentenced to five years in prison.

A friend reported Repetto missing to La Jolla lifeguards on Feb. 26. She claimed that Repetto failed to return from a solo swim from Scripps Pier. Coast Guard and lifeguard units conducted an exhaustive search for Repetto over the next two days. U.S. Marshal Services arrested him in Yuma four days later on March 2.

Repetto pleaded guilty last fall in Boston to taking part in a kickback and phony invoice scheme that defrauded Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. out of $1.3 million, according to federal prosecutors. Repetto is a former manager of the fruit juice company.

SouthCoastToday reported that the scheme to defraud Ocean Spray began in 1999, when Repetto started taking kickbacks for work he directed to a company owned by alleged co-conspirator Stanley Wheeler. Wheeler pleaded guilty to three counts of mail fraud and one count of filing a false tax return. His sentencing is set for Aug. 30.