A Chinese national, Yongjian You, 41, was sentenced to 27 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves for mail fraud he committed as part of a gift card tampering scheme.
The scheme, which involved stealing gift card packages from multiple Kroger stores in the Lexington area, mailing them to co-conspirators to be compromised, and then returning the tampered cards to retailer shelves, resulted in a potential consumer loss of over $1.1 million.
On July 8, 2024, You was caught stealing untampered gift cards from a Kroger store in Lexington and placing tampered cards back on the gift card racks. A law enforcement search of his vehicle yielded 871 tampered gift cards and 998 untampered gift cards, representing a potential consumer loss of $419,975.
Two packages that You recently mailed to California were intercepted and found to contain an additional 2,651 untampered gift cards, representing another $627,925 in potential consumer loss.
As part of his sentence, You must serve 85 percent of his prison term. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for three years.
The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations and the Lexington Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney James T. Chapman is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
The joint announcement of the sentence was made by Paul McCaffrey, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Rana Saoud, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations; and Chief Lawrence Weathers, Lexington Police Department.
Related Federal Cases
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- Intrepid U.S.A. Inc., Medicare Fraud, Kentucky 2023 · New York
- Andrei-Cătălin Stoica, Online Auction Fraud, Kentucky 2018 · Massachusetts
- Shirley Ann Cameron, Access Device Fraud, Kentucky 2024 · Oklahoma
- Clinton Portis, Health Care Fraud, Kentucky 2022 · Kentucky
Key Facts
- State: Kentucky
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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