Former Pennsylvania police officer sentenced for mail fraud

BALTIMORE — A former Pennsylvania police officer was sentenced Thursday to one year in prison for mail fraud, following an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Philadelphia with assistance from the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office.

Marco DeCamillo, 41, of Reading, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 12 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for mail fraud stemming from the sales of misbranded body armor and order to pay $124,000 in restitution.

During his tenure as a police officer, DeCamillo also owned and operated a business called Mad Dragon Tactical (MDT). MDT sold law enforcement tactical gear, including body armor rifle plates, primarily on auction and shopping websites. DeCamillo, through MDT, sold approximately $169,000 worth of body armor that was falsely classified as certified by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). The NIJ conducts ballistic testing on body armor.

DeCamillo falsely claimed that certain MDT body armor shields would protect against armor piercing rounds, and that certain products were made with the more robust HY80 and A4600 Steel. DeCamillo used his status as a police officer to sell the misbranded body armor rifle plates, understanding that several of his buyers were in law enforcement and/or military or defense and were relying on DeCamillo’s representations regarding the quality and safety of his products.

According to the plea agreement, on Dec. 17, 2015, a defense contractor and NIJ accredited laboratory (“victim lab”) contacted the FBI with a complaint regarding the misuse of one of their ballistic data test sheets by MDT. The FBI verified that DeCamillo, through MDT, had advertised online a set of body armor plates with an altered ballistic test sheet from the victim lab that had been completed in 2013. The original 2013 test sheet provided the results of ballistic testing on a ballistic test shield, not steel body armor plates as advertised by MDT. FBI agents viewed several MDT listings online and observed photographs of altered ballistic test sheets uploaded to each listing.

Numerous ballistics sheets that had been fraudulently altered with “white out” or other redactions were recovered from DeCamillo’s residence during the execution of a search warrant by HSI.

DeCamillo was interviewed by HSI and the FBI and admitted that he knew that his MDT body armor was not NIJ certified.