Pair Charged In Stop And Shop Coupon Fraud In Brick

A man and woman from South Toms River have been charged in connection with a series of thefts from Stop and Shop where the suspects used fraudulent UPC codes to reduce the cost of their purchases by nearly $1,500, Brick Township police said Thursday.

Melissa Scheller, 32, and Ben Lugo, 29, have been charged with theft by deception in the case, Sgt. Neal Pedersen said.

The two are accused of going into Stop and Shop in both Brick and Toms River and using a fraudulent UPC code that allowed them to repeatedly deduct from their total purchase price. The suspects were able to scan the fraudulent UPC code repeatedly to significantly reduce the total, resulting in thefts ranging from $50 to $200 per incident, Pedersen said. The total amount of items stolen was $1,475, he said.

Detective Robert Shepherd arrested and charged Scheller, who has posted bail that was set at $20,000 with no 10 percent option, Pedersen said.

There is an active warrant for Lugo, with bail of $20,000 no 10 percent option set by Judge Robert Lepore, he said.

Stop and Shop has since addressed the UPC codes so incidents similar to this will not occur again, he said.