CAMDEN – An Atlantic City gambler was sentenced to 115 months in federal prison today on wire fraud charges for his scheme to defraud more than 100 women across the United States whom he had targeted through the use of phone dating services, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler also ordered Patrick M. Giblin, 42, of Atlantic City, to pay $182,444 in restitution to his victims and to serve three years of supervised release upon the completion of her prison sentence. Judge Kugler also ordered the defendant to register on the gambling industries self-exclusion list, which makes it a trespassing crime to enter a casino. Giblin has remained in federal detention without bail since his arrest on March 3, 2005.

Giblin was charged in a Second Superseding Indictment, which was returned on Oct. 12, 2005, in connection with his a scheme to defraud victims using companies such as Quest Personals and Lavalife, which offer dating services such as telephone connections, chat rooms and email exchanges.

The Indictment states that from January 2000 until March 2005, Giblin created numerous accounts in his name on various dating services. The accounts often corresponded to geographic areas of the nation allowing him to target women in those areas. Some of those areas include, but are not limited to, Albany, N.Y., Richmond, Va., Charlotte, N.C., Savannah, Ga., Orlando, Fla., Dayton, Ohio, Nashville, Tenn., Houston, Texas, and Kansas City, Mo.

Giblin entered his guilty plea to 10 counts of wire fraud before Judge Kugler on May 12, 2006. At his plea hearing, Giblin admitted he would target single women through the dating services and then cultivate a telephone rapport with each woman over the course of days or weeks. Shortly thereafter, Giblin would falsely profess his interest in pursuing a romantic relationship.

Giblin admitted he lied to each woman telling her that he would be relocating or traveling to her geographic area. He would falsely claim that he needed money for relocation or travel expenses and then would request a loan from each woman for such expenses.Giblin admitted he promised to repay the loans immediately upon his arrival in her location.

Giblin admitted he spent the money he received from the women at casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas and for personal expenses. In determining the actual sentence, Judge Kugler consulted the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and other factors. The judge, however, was not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Pedro Ruiz, in Newark, and the Atlantic City Police Department, under the direction of Chief John J. Mooney.

The Government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ronald Chillemi and Matthew Skahill of the Criminal Division in Camden.

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Defense Attorney: Christopher O’Malley, Esq. Asst. Fed. Public Defender