Four Sentenced for Stealing from The Home Depot

Four men, including three Atlanta residents, have received federal prison sentences for their participation in a fraud scheme which targeted Atlanta-based The Home Depot, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

According to the U.S. Attorney, Robert Lee Hatcher III, Willie Dewayne Lynch, Andrew Oliver, and Arthur James Freeman established a fraud ring which saw Hatcher, Lynch, and Oliver place barcodes of inexpensive items over the barcodes of more expensive items at Home Depots in ten states including Georgia, purchase the items, then remove the lower-priced barcode and return the item for a refund card.

Once the trio received the refund cards, they would turn them over to Freeman in exchange for 60 percent of the value on the cards. Freeman would then use the cards to buy merchandise from The Home Depot he then re-sold at two “Bargain Wholesale” stores in Atlanta. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that the scheme bilked over $600,000 from The Home Depot.

The Home Depot’s security systems eventually caught up with the fraudsters and authorities arrested and charged the culprits with defrauding and conspiring to defraud The Home Depot. All four men were subsequently convicted.

Hatcher received a five year sentence, followed by three years on probation. He must also make $647,391.02 in restitution payments to The Home Depot. Lynch was sentenced to 45 months in prison, three years on probation, and was ordered to pay the same amount of restitution.

Oliver, a Stone Mountain resident, was sentenced to 40 months in prison, three years on probation, and was ordered to pay $86,858.46 in restitution. Freeman, who was sentenced Thursday, was given six months in prison, eight months of house arrested followed by three months of probation, and was ordered to pay $113,527.50 in restitution.

“These defendants executed a long-term, sophisticated scam to defraud The Home Depot out of more than $600,000,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates in a statement. “This case should remind those who believe they have concocted the perfect scam that they will be caught.”