A man now admits he took park in a large shoplifting ring and sold items to a murder suspect.
Terry Stewart, 35, of Stillwater stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in merchandise, including breast pumps, whitening strips, cross stitch an needlepoint kits, electric toothbrushes, thumb drives, pet supplements, razors, and tool sets big box from big box stores such as Walmart, Sears, Home Depot, JoAnn Fabrics, Tops and Wegmans.
Stewart admitted selling the items to Rico Vendetti, who is a murder suspect in the July 2010 homicide of 78-year old Homer Marciniak of Medina. Marciniak, who had a large and valuable comic book collection, was found tied up and gagged inside his home and later died.
Vendetti then allegedly sold the items from Stewart on eBay for half their retail value. Stewart allegedly supplied Vendetti with $700,000 in merchandise over a period of several years.
Stewart will be sentenced in March and could face up to 20 years in prison for engaging in a racketeering conspiracy.
Vendetti’s felony murder trial begins next week. He allegedly took part in the home invasion with Arlene Combs, Albert Parsons, and Donald Griffin. Charges are pending against those three.
If convicted, Vendetti faces a mandatory life sentence without parole.
