FORMER CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER SENTENCED TO 60 MONTHS’ IMPRISONMENT FOR SECURITIES FRAUD

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
June 18, 2012 
The Commission announced today that, on June 14, 2012, the Honorable Douglas P. Woodlock of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts sentenced Jon Latorella of Marblehead, Massachusetts, to 60 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and the payment of restitution to be determined at a later hearing. Latorella is the former chief executive officer of LocatePlus Holdings Corporation (“LocatePlus”), a Massachusetts-based information technology company that sold on-line access to public record databases for investigative searches. On November 10, 2010, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts (“USAO”) charged Latorella and former LocatePlus chief financial officer James Fields with conspiracy to commit securities fraud for their role in a scheme to fraudulently inflate revenue at LocatePlus as well as a scheme to manipulate the stock of another company.

On November 10, 2010, the same date on which the indictment against Latorella and Fields was unsealed, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) amended a previously-filed civil injunctive action against LocatePlus arising out of the same conduct, to add Latorella and Fields as defendants. The Commission’s civil injunctive action is stayed until the conclusion of the criminal case, which remains pending against both Fields and LocatePlus.