Philly Pawn Shop Owners Accused Of Selling Millions Of Dollars In Stolen Goods

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Two Philadelphia pawn shop owners are facing federal charges after prosecutors said they trafficked and sold millions of dollars in stolen goods at their stores.

Cousins Larry Leonard, 60, and Nathaniel “Nat” Leonard, 68, both of Philadelphia, were indicted on charges including conspiracy to transport and sell stolen goods in interstate commerce and interstate transportation of stolen property. Larry Leonard was also charged with money laundering.

According to court documents, the men jointly ran three pawn shops: Society Hill Loan and K&A Money Loan Pawnbrokers, both in Philadelphia; and Lou’s Jewelry and Pawnshop in Wilmington, Delaware.

Prosecutors said the men were using their businesses to buy and sell large volumes of new and stolen in-box merchandise supplied by two main groups of people.

The first group, known colloquially as “boosters,” collectively stole millions of dollars of new merchandise from retailers in the Philadelphia and Delaware region, including from The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Target, Walmart, Best Buy, CVS, Rite Aid, Safeway and others. The boosters then sold the merchandise to the Leonards’ pawn shops for cash.

The other group, referred to by the Leonards as “mooks,” also stole millions of dollars of new retail merchandise from across the United States before reselling it in bulk quantities to the Leonards and other pawn shop employees for cash.

According to court documents, the Leonards took the stolen goods from Lou’s Jewelry in Delaware and K&A in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood to Society Hill Loan in South Philadelphia, where they listed the stolen merchandise for sale via eBay.

From November 2019 through December 2023, prosecutors said the Leonards sold more than $19 million in stolen merchandise via their eBay site. They also shipped the stolen merchandise from Society Hill Loan in Philadelphia to customers across the country, prosecutors said.

Larry Leonard was also charged with three counts of money laundering for using the proceeds of the sale of stolen merchandise to pay off more than $120,000 in credit card bills from December 2022 through April 2023.

If convicted, Larry Leonard faces a maximum possible sentence of 45 years in prison and Nathaniel Leonard faces a maximum possible sentence of 15 years in prison.