Four additional individuals have admitted guilt in connection with a large-scale, prolonged gift card fraud that resulted in over $6 million in losses for Home Depot locations in the Chicago area. All four were placed on probation, but one additionally received a jail sentence that was fulfilled by time already served.
Authorities reported that scammers exploited Home Depot locations in the city, obtaining $900 credits over 6,000 times for a single transaction from three years prior.
Authorities reported that the fraudulent activity started in March 2020 when an individual made a purchase exceeding $6,000 at the company’s location on 2570 North Elston. A few days later, an individual visited the store, asserted that the purchase was intended for a tax-exempt church, and obtained a $900 gift card to cover the tax amount. The taxes for the purchase amounted to $555, as stated in a report from the Chicago police.
The deception expanded gradually, starting off small.
In 2020, unidentified individuals exploited a single receipt to obtain $900 gift cards on 15 separate occasions. In 2021, the receipt facilitated the creation of gift cards on 33 occasions. In 2022, the scheme expanded significantly, resulting in the issuance of 1,372 gift cards totaling $900 in “tax credits” for the same transaction. In the previous year, Home Depot distributed $900 gift cards for the same receipt on 3,200 occasions from January 1 until mid-May, marking the period when the arrests commenced.
As the scheme neared its end, participants grew increasingly daring, with some cashiers providing multiple gift cards for a single transaction in one go. Officials reported that some individuals had a copy of the receipt saved on their personal phones, allowing them to issue gift cards to themselves.
Christiana Westbrooks, 39, admitted to stealing between $100,000 and $500,000 and received a two-year probation sentence from Judge Thomas Byrne. Prosecutors reported that she utilized her specific teller code to generate $900 gift cards on the same receipt over 1,000 times last year. During her arrest, she had $2,980 in cash and reportedly confessed to earning $100 for each gift card she provided.
Sharon Dwyer, 47, admitted guilt to the same charge and received a two-year probation sentence along with 206 days from Judge Byrne. Prosecutors alleged that she distributed over 1,500 gift cards amounting to $1.3 million in the previous year. It is claimed that she earned $30 for each gift card she distributed as part of the scheme. Dwyer faced allegations of providing cards to scammers impersonating customers and was also accused of scanning a 2020 receipt from her phone to issue $900 in gift cards for her own use. A woman was taken into custody while in possession of $4,420 in cash.
Byrne sentenced Rosa Reynoso-Rodriguez, 35, to two years of probation following her guilty plea for theft involving $10,000 to $100,000. Reynoso-Rodriguez, similar to many other participants, was employed at the 2570 North Elston site. Prosecutors reported that she distributed $900 gift cards on 313 occasions, amounting to $281,700, with almost $50,000 in cards being issued in just one week.
Lamont Thompson, 50, faces allegations of being among those who submitted receipts to obtain gift cards. Prosecutors reported that he obtained ten gift cards valued at $9,000 on May 10, followed by 39 cards totaling $35,100 during two sessions on May 12, and three cards worth $2,700 on May 15.
Prosecutors reported that when police took Thompson into custody, he possessed 33 Home Depot gift cards valued at $29,700.
He admitted to stealing between $10,000 and $100,000 and received a two-year probation sentence from Byrne. Thompson was initially charged with a more severe offense related to running a continuous financial crime operation, but that charge was dismissed following his guilty plea.
Two individuals, Tyler Clark, 26, and Thomas McNeal, 64, admitted guilt earlier this year and were given two-year probation sentences by Byrne.
Authorities have not provided a public explanation for how the fraudulent gift cards were turned into cash, nor have they disclosed the details of how the operation managed to run for three years, producing thousands of $900 gift cards from just one $6,000 receipt.