HOLLIDAYSBURG - Two area brothers, who at one time sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of illegally obtained items on eBay, will spend the next several months in home detention and the next 10 years after that on probation, a Blair County judge ordered Friday.
President Judge Jolene G. Kopriva sentenced Tye and Tod Dively after they entered guilty pleas to charges of operating a corrupt organization, using illegal proceeds to operate the organization and conspiracy.
Tye Dively, 32, of Claysburg RD also entered a no-contest plea to a theft charge. He will spend the next nine months on house arrest.
Tod Dively, 41, of Imler will serve six months' house arrest.
While on house arrest, the brothers will be able to go to work but their whereabouts outside the home will be closely monitored because they each will be wearing ankle bracelets. They will pay for their supervision.
Prior to 2003, the Divelys had a thriving eBay business, believed by police to be among the largest on the Web site, an international Internet flea market.
The Divelys would tell people who needed money, many believed to be drug addicts, what items were hot on eBay, everything from TVs to computers to personal items, court documents state. The thieves went to stores in Blair and surrounding counties and pilfered the items or in some cases, used stolen checks to buy the goods, police said.
One man told state troopers that he took an estimated $750,000 worth of goods to the brothers.
Police doing surveillance of Tye Dively's residence stopped a FedEx truck leaving the home in January 2004. The driver reported he was transporting 190 boxes from the home.
The investigation began in late 2003 after a woman caught with stolen goods told officers she was taking them to another man who sold them to the Divelys.
A federal grand jury indicted the brothers for tax evasion, stating they owed $225,000 in income taxes but had paid only $27,169. Tye Dively was sentenced to 16 months in jail on the federal charges and Tod received a year plus a day.
Blair County Deputy District Attorney Jackie Bernard said the prosecution agreed to house arrest because the brothers already served jail time and are now able to work and pay off what they owe.
When the brothers were charged in February with the state offenses, Tod Dively told the Mirror only a small percentage of the goods sold on eBay were stolen. Tye Dively said the state charges were "part of the cleanup" of the federal investigation.
Neither brother spoke during Friday's sentencing.
Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.
