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Gift card grifter
US District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. has sentenced a former Home Depot sales associate to three years and one month in federal prison for a gift card scheme she hatched to bankroll her gambling.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia (USAO-NDGA) took to X last week with the news Felecia Ingram, 53, stole $4m+ in Home Depot gift cards during the COVID-19 pandemic:
According to the USAO-NDGA, Ingram’s scheme ran from March 2020 to July 2021 while many of her colleagues were working remotely.
Ingram used her Home Depot sales associate access credentials to “remove more than 8,000 physical gift cards from the company’s Atlanta facility.”
Tracks exposed
US Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said despite hatching a calculated scheme and attempting to cover her tracks, Ingram will now “pay for her deceit” in jail.
According to a news release, US Secret Service (USSS) investigators said Ingram input fake orders into the Home Depot system to fraudulently activate the gift cards as if they were issued for legitimate company business, such as corporate events. Ingram later deleted the fake orders to conceal her fraud.
discrepancies in ledger balances.”
Ingram’s plan started to unravel when her firm’s internal gift card team noticed things were not quite right. They discovered “discrepancies in ledger balances.” It was later found the ex-sales associate had stolen 8,325 cards worth in excess of $4m in just 16 months.
Ingram sold the cards on the black market for “millions” and used the profits “primarily to fund an extravagant gambling lifestyle,” stated the USAO-NDGA.
Think again
US Attorney Hertzberg added Ingram “abused the trust placed in her.” USSS Atlanta Field Office Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Donovan said she exploited her role at Home Depot “for personal gain.”
Special Agent Donovan added: “This criminal thought she could use her knowledge of her employer’s business practices to conceal a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme.” Donovan, however, credited investigators, prosecutors and Home Depot for ensuring Ingram “will spend the next three years in prison paying for her crimes.”
Judge Thrash also ordered Ingram to pay $3,946,776 in restitution.
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