A former House Depot worker is headed to federal jail after prosecutors say she orchestrated a multimillion-dollar gift card scheme and spent a lot of the cash on playing.
Federal authorities in Atlanta say 53-year-old Felecia Ingram used her job inside the corporate’s Retailer Help Middle to quietly siphon off 1000’s of present playing cards over roughly 16 months, starting in March 2020. Ingram labored as a present card gross sales affiliate, a task that gave her entry to the programs and stock she would later exploit.
Investigators say she took about 8,325 bodily present playing cards, loading up a complete worth of roughly $4.08 million.
In line with courtroom data, Ingram activated the playing cards herself. Prosecutors say she used her firm laptop credentials to generate pretend inside orders, making it seem the playing cards had been tied to reliable company occasions. After activating the playing cards, she deleted the sham orders in an effort to cowl her tracks. Authorities say she then resold the activated playing cards on the black marketplace for money.
Exploiting her place for private achieve, this legal thought she might use her information of her employer’s enterprise practices to hide a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme.
Robert Donovan, Appearing Particular Agent in Cost of the US Secret Service Atlanta Area Workplace
Prosecutors contend most of that cash went towards what they described as an “extravagant playing life-style.” They haven’t specified what kind of playing was concerned, however courtroom filings state that the majority of the proceeds had been funneled into that exercise.
How the previous House Depot employee’s playing scheme unraveled
The operation continued for greater than a yr earlier than anybody caught on. It lastly got here to gentle when House Depot’s inside present card staff noticed inconsistencies within the firm’s monetary data. These discrepancies triggered a deeper overview, which in the end led to a joint investigation by the U.S. Secret Service and the corporate.
The investigation uncovered the fraudulent inside orders and traced the exercise again to Ingram, in line with prosecutors.
On Thursday (February 26), Senior U.S. District Decide Thomas W. Thrash Jr. sentenced Ingram to 3 years and one month in federal jail. She may also serve three years of supervised launch as soon as she completes her sentence. As well as, the courtroom ordered her to repay practically $3.95 million to The House Depot. Ingram pleaded responsible in Could 2025 to 1 depend of entry machine fraud.
In courtroom filings, prosecutors argued that Ingram intentionally used her familiarity with firm programs to each perform and conceal the theft. “Whereas employed at The House Depot, the defendant abused the belief positioned in her and stole a staggering $4 million from the corporate,” the U.S. lawyer’s workplace stated in a press launch.
The prosecution is considered one of a number of main fraud circumstances introduced this yr by the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Northern District of Georgia. Officers say this case has drawn explicit discover due to the dimensions of the theft and the hyperlink prosecutors made between the stolen funds and playing.
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