What's Fueling ORC Increases?


See full report here

Pawn Shop Hired Boosters & Sold $1.5M of Stolen Goods Outside NY State on eBay
Rochester Man Pleads Guilty For His Role In Pawn Shop Conspiracy
Wade Shadders, 23, of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa to conspiracy to transport stolen goods in interstate commerce. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000.

Between October 2018 and November 2019, the defendant was an employee at Royal Crown Pawn & Jewelry on Dewey Avenue in Rochester, which is owned by co-defendant Devin Tribunella. As part of the conspiracy, Tribunella and Shadders engaged persons they knew were shoplifting (commonly referred to as “boosters”). They routinely advised the boosters what goods to steal from retail stores located in the Rochester area, including Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Walmart, and Wegmans. Once the items were stolen, the boosters would sell the stolen, new in-box items to Tribunella and Shadders at the Royal Crown pawn shop, for a fraction of retail value. Tribunella and Shadders then listed the stolen goods for sale on eBay using accounts registered to or controlled by Tribunella. The goods were advertised as “New” or “New-In-Box” and priced below retail value, but well in excess of the money Tribunella and Shadders had paid to the boosters for the stolen goods. Throughout Shadder’s involvement in the conspiracy, Tribunella and Shadders purchased millions of dollars’ worth of stolen goods from boosters, knowing such goods had in fact been stolen. Between April and November 2019, the two defendants sold and shipped approximately $1,561,000 worth of those stolen goods to buyers located outside of the State of New York.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 22, 2021, before Judge Siragusa. justice.gov

Nationwide CC Fraud Ring of 7 - 2 Get Fed. Prison
Two Women Sentenced In Credit Card Fraud Conspiracy Case
KEYIRA GABLE, age 33, of Harvey, gets 61 months and BRITTANY WHITE, age 34, of New Orleans, got 37 months on Nov. 12., for their participation in a years-long credit card fraud conspiracy.

GABLE and WHITE were the second and third defendants to be sentenced in this seven-defendant conspiracy case. According to court documents, GABLE, WHITE, and their co-conspirators engaged in a scheme to obtain merchandise and cash from stores through fraud. The defendants obtained stolen credit and debit card information, encoded it onto cards, and then used that information to purchase items at stores. The defendants would then return the items at a different store of the same chain, but they would deceive store workers in order to have the chargeback credited to their own bank accounts. Federal agents were able to determine that members of this conspiracy took flights around the country to execute the scheme, including Oregon, South Carolina, Illinois, Tennessee, Missouri, and Florida. justice.gov

Missouri Woman Fourth Person Sentenced for Nationwide Fraud Scheme
Heather Bishop, 31, Lee’s Summit, Missouri was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 30 months in federal prison for conspiring with Crystal Austin, Shelly Scott, Jason Edge, and others to commit wire fraud throughout the country. Bishop was ordered to pay restitution to Walmart, Inc., in an amount to be determined after a hearing on January 11, 2021.

Between February 2017 and March 2018, Bishop, Austin, Scott, Edge and others conspired to defraud Walmart, Inc. through use of stolen personal checks, identity fraud, and methods to bypass electronic check authorization measures, resulting in a loss of over $860,000 to Walmart. The group used stolen identification cards of real people to perpetuate this fraud in 18 states, using more than 14 different stolen checking accounts.

Scott and Edge were arrested by Monona Police on February 25, 2018 and were sentenced to 48 months in federal prison in November 2018 after pleading guilty for their roles in this fraud scheme. Crystal Austin pleaded guilty to the conspiracy and was sentenced to 65 months in prison in September 2020. justice.gov

Repeat Offender Gets 10 Extra Months
Judge sentences St. Louis man for aggravated identify theft
ST. LOUIS, MO – United States District Judge sentenced Tyrelle Phillips to 24 months in prison today. The 29-year-old St. Louis, Missouri resident pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated identify theft.

Because Phillips was serving a three-year term of federal supervision after completing a 39-month term of imprisonment for engaging in similar conduct in 2014, he was also sentenced to an additional ten months of incarceration after Judge Clark revoked his earlier term of supervised release. In total, Phillips was ordered to serve a total of 34 months incarceration.

Richmond Heights Police also identified Phillips using a counterfeit card embedded with the account of another person to buy merchandise, food and gift cards from various merchants throughout the St. Louis Metropolitan area. Between March 7, 2019 and March 11, 2019, the actual fraud losses through the other person’s credit card exceeded $1,500. And used another counterfeit card to buy electronic equipment valued at $1,275.64 from the Microsoft Store. justice.gov

Shoplifters raid Dover Best Buy's Apple display to the tune of $12k
Five suspects stole $12,000 in Apple products from a Best Buy display Tuesday afternoon, Dover Police announced Wednesday. According to authorities, five males entered the big box electronics store at 1165 North DuPont Highway around 4:20 p.m. on December 15, 2020. They approached the Apple product display, and began detaching security locks and cables, then fleeing.  wdel.com

Macon, GA: 'This was an organized, experienced group': 5 people indicted in Burglary ring after nearly 60 break-ins
A grand jury voted to indict five people that prosecutors say are responsible for a Macon burglary spree spanning December of 2019 to April of this year. District Attorney David Cooke says they were all part of a burglary ring, responsible for nearly 60 break-ins. Fanboy Collectibles and Comic, is just one of 49 businesses the alleged burglary ring broke into. Huffman says they took cash and the cash register, but they also took some of the most valuable items in the store -- graded comic books. Huffman estimates they took around 20 of those comic books, valued between $3,000 and $4,000 all together, she says.

Video surveillance captured the break in beginning to end. Huffman says it was obvious the thieves had scouted out the store before. According to the indictment, the crew went on a burglary spree between December 2019 and April of this year, hitting restaurants, gas stations, retail shops, a car wash and a doctor's office. As soon as the alleged ring were arrested this spring, Sheriff David Davis says commercial burglaries dropped by roughly 30 percent.  13wmaz.com

Marietta, GA: Pawn shop busted for selling stolen goods
Marietta police busted a pawn shop and arrested two people accused of buying and selling hundreds of stolen items. The Marietta Police Department says their investigation into Pawn World on the 900 block of Roswell Street has been ongoing for the last six months after tips from the public. Over 100 stolen items have been identified and recovered by those retailers, with values in excess of $15,000, according to investigators. Officials say during the store inventory investigators identified numerous items were still sealed in their original packaging. The items recovered included electronics, power tools of all types and assorted sporting goods. fox5atlanta.com

Nacogdoches, TX: Two people charged after a $250,000 Jewelry store Burglary on Thanksgiving weekend
Daniel Brooks, 39 and Savannah McLaughlin, 27 were both arrested after a burglary at Rees Jewelry in Nacogdoches. Rees Jewelry store caught the theft on surveillance video on November 27th. Nacogdoches police received a tip that the two suspects were in Lufkin and Lufkin police located and arrested them on December 10th. More than $2500 worth of items were taken during the burglary. Sales associate Piper Adkins tells us that most of the stolen items have now been recovered. ktre.com

Little Rock, AR: $3,000 pair of glasses stolen from Optical shop