A Salem man has been charged with a $35,000 scheme to defraud Home Depot.
Robert Dooley, 56, of Salem, Massachusetts, was charged in U.S. District Court in Boston with one count of wire fraud.
According to the complaint, between January 2016 and February 2016, Dooley engaged in a scheme to defraud Home Depot by ‘returning’ items he never purchased from the store to receive store credit.
Dooley would enter Home Depot stores empty-handed and gather merchandise totaling $500 to $900. At the returns desk, he would falsely claim that he previously purchased the items, but did not have a receipt.
He would then provide a driver’s license number to the clerk, often varying the number so the ‘return’ would not immediately be detected as fraudulent. Dooley was then issued a Home Depot card for the fraudulent return.
Dooley perpetrated the scam over 40 times at Home Depot stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine, racking up over $35,000 in fraudulent returns.
In 2007, Dooley was convicted of federal wire fraud charges arising out of a nearly identical scheme in which he defrauded Home Depot in excess of $330,000 from July 2004 through October 2005.
Dooley was sentenced to five years in federal prison.
The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.
Dooley will appear before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Jennifer C. Boal on May 23, 2023.
Related Federal Cases
- Albania Deleon, Fraud, Massachusetts 2011 · New Hampshire
- Manuel Guerra, Unsworn Falsification, New Hampshire 2011 · New Hampshire
- American Refrigeration Company, Clean Water Act Violation, New Hampshire 2011 · New Hampshire
- Thibeault Corporation of New England, Illegal Dumping and Fraudulent Misrepresentation of Waste, New Hampshire 2012 · New Hampshire
- Peter Belony, Wire Fraud Conspiracy, Massachusetts 2019 · Florida
Key Facts
- State: Massachusetts
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
ðŸâ€Â’ Get the grimiest stories delivered weekly. Subscribe free →
MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS
White Collar CrimeWhite Collar CrimeWhite Collar CrimeWhite Collar Crime