Four-month investigation of notorious cargo theft ring's return - Unloading Millions To Local Fences & Vendors in Northern New Jersey    More details have emerged in the new case against a highly organized North Jersey freight train robbery gang that authorities believed had been broken up more than a decade ago. Yesterday, "Conrail Boyz" theft ring leader Edward Mongon, 40, of North Bergen, appeared in Central Judicial Processing Court in Jersey City yesterday, along with seven others facing cargo theft charges. According to the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, the Conrail Boyz studied schedules, practices and access points on the CSX and Norfolk Southern rail lines in order to target shipping containers containing valuable merchandise. The gang would open containers both during stops and while trains were moving and stole millions worth of high-end clothing, sneakers, watches, electronics, liquor and other retail items with help from accomplices on the ground, authorities said. These goods were distributed to "fences" in Jersey City and North Bergen for sale to local vendors, officials added. Investigators tracked the group for nearly four months, following stolen goods and monitoring deliveries to the fences, authorities said, adding that the goods were then distributed to various customers including variety store JRichard in Paterson. A total of 10 have been charged in connection to the highly-organized theft ring, which had previously been in operation from 1992 to 2003. The group gained notoriety in 2004 when Mongon was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison for running the theft gang. nj.com

Four Atlanta fraud ring members to serve prison time for stealing $600,000 from Home Depot  Four metro Atlanta men have been convicted and sentenced for defrauding and conspiring to defraud Atlanta-based The Home Depot Inc. According to the Department of Justice, beginning in at least January 2011, Robert Lee Hatcher III, 32, of Atlanta; Willie Dewayne Lynch, 30, of Atlanta; and Andrew Oliver, 62, of Stone Mountain, Ga. entered Home Depot stores in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, and selected merchandise for purchase. But, before buying the items, the men covered the UPC labels on high-priced items with UPC labels they removed from lower-priced items - a practice commonly called "ticket-switching." The defendants then took the merchandise to a sales terminal, where they purchased it for the lower price. After fraudulently purchasing the merchandise, Hatcher, Lynch, and Oliver removed the lower-priced UPC label, revealing the original, higher-priced UPC label. Next, the defendants returned the fraudulently purchased merchandise to Home Depot stores and obtained refund cards in the amounts of the actual price of the merchandise. Hatcher, Lynch, and Oliver then sold the refund cards to Arthur James Freeman, 54, of Atlanta, Ga., in exchange for cash at 60 percent of the actual value contained on the refund cards. Freeman then used the fraudulently obtained refund cards to buy merchandise at Home Depot stores, which he used to stock two retail stores that he owned and operated in Atlanta known as "Bargain Wholesale." "These defendants executed a long-term, sophisticated scam to defraud The Home Depot out of more than $600,000," United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, said in a statement. bizjournals.com

Employee at Florida Home Depot store accused of stealing $68K through fraudulent returns  A Home Depot employee stole over $68,000 through making fraudulent returns over the course of six weeks, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies. According to an arrest report, Home Depot employee Nancy Baptiste would make returns for items that had not actually been returned and would pocket the cash. The store, located at 9820 Glades Road in West Boca, started noticing her strange returns in early November. Baptiste was arrested Wednesday. Baptiste was caught after her register activity started raising red flags with managers. Each cashier has a unique number that logs how many transactions a cashier makes. The code is specifically designed to assist in audits and monitor suspicious activities, according to the report. Deputies said in the month of September alone, Baptiste rung in $18,000 worth of returns. She would manually key in the merchandise code each time, deputies said. These returns also did not include receipts, deputies said. Sometimes, Baptiste would grab items from around the returns and special services desk and scan them in, deputies said. securityinfowatch.com

UPS Worker in Corpus Christi, TX Arrested For Stealing Cell Phones
Tis the season for shipping, and at the height of it, KRIS 6 News has learned of a troubling story about a local UPS worker accused of theft. He was not a delivery driver, but a warehouse employee. Corpus Christi police say on Monday, two brand new iPhone 6 devices were found inside Jesus Franco's lunchbox. Each was valued at $800. UPS's loss prevention division called CCPD, and Franco was arrested on felony theft charges. At the warehouse on Navigation, a worker told KRIS 6 News that the head of Loss Prevention was in the Rio Grande Valley and unavailable for comment on the case. In an email to KRIS 6 News late Thursday afternoon, the company wouldn't specify how many items were reported as "unreceived" by customers or whether any other workers are also suspected of theft. The statement did say, "This case was the result of an internal ups investigation. UPS terminated the employee and notified law enforcement, who took the individual into custody Monday." kristv.com

Jacksonville UPS Worker Accused Of Stealing Packages Worth Thousands
An employee at the Jacksonville UPS store is accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of electronics and other items from packages. 31-year-old Clayton Whitaker of the 100 block of Leland Lake was booked at the Morgan County Jail for theft at 4 p.m. yesterday. Jacksonville Police Lieutenant Rodney Cox says an investigation was opened up last month regarding opened packages. He says about $10-thousand of merchandise, mainly new cell phones and phones ordered by customers that were supposed to be delivered to the Jacksonville AT&T store, were taken. wics.com