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Man who spent time in prison for defrauding Home Depot charged with defrauding Home Depot again
By adamg on Thu, 05/05/2016 - 7:01pm
A Salem man sentenced to five years in federal prison for a scheme in which he'd go around Home Depot stores collecting stuff in a shopping cart then "returning" them at the returns desk was charged today with pulling the same stunt several times earlier this year.
The US Attorney's office in Boston reports Robert Dooley, 56, took advantage of Home Depot's policy of allowing returns without a receipt on several trips to Home Depot stores in January and February of this year:
On each occasion, Dooley, entered Home Depot stores empty handed and gathered merchandise totaling $500 to $900. At the returns desk, Dooley falsely claimed that he previously purchased the items, but did not have a receipt. When he provided this driver’s license number to the clerk, Dooley often varied the number so the “return” would not immediately be detected as fraudulent. Dooley was then issued a Home Depot card for the fraudulent return. According to the complaint, Dooley perpetrated the scam over forty times at Home Depots stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine, racking up over $35,000 in fraudulent returns.
Dooley was convicted in 2007 of doing the same thing in 2004 and 2005. A key difference: At the time, he worked for the IRS and would show his IRS ID, which he typically wore around his neck, at the returns desk to help prove he was legit.
If convicted again, he could face up to 20 years in prison.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
AND WHO PAYS FOR FRAUD
Great job Law Enforcement, more the average person like myself ends up paying for fraudulent crimes, i.e. prices.
Not higher prices
but greater tax write offs for what is termed "lossage". All businesses do this to some degree, but most of them actually have sensible return policies (and needing to show a receipt to return something should be taught in Retail 101).
And I personally have yet to encounter a retailer that requires you to show an ID to return an item.
But as long as people can get crappy quality stuff for a few cents cheaper than going to the local hardware store, it's somehow considered a good thing for society. And unless this guy was instructed never to enter a Home Depot again as part of his prior conviction, it's unlikely that will be brought into evidence at his new trial under the "prior bad acts" exclusion.
I'm no lawyer, but...
I have heard that the rules which normally prevent the prosecution from bringing up past crimes in court (for good reason) may have exceptions when the past crimes involve dishonesty, such as fraud.
I think that the commentary about Rule 609(a)(2) on this page is relevant: https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rule_609
He should get..
An extra 5 years for being a dumb ass .
I admire his resolve
When that horse bucks you off, you've gotta get right back in that saddle!
You'd think Home Despot
would have the Lowe down on this guy by now.
They were tuned to the wrong Channel.
thank you, I'll show myself out
Impressive
Didn't Channel close in the early 90s?
Puns are
Gross, Man
Nice going, Ace...
You added True Value to this thread.
That' s
Spag-nificant
Got away with it for a while
Then some police officer Tags him.
Channel, not as gross man as
Spit
a bit later, but yeah, pretty close
Merged with Rickel 1994, after which all the Channel stores were rebranded as Rickel, and then Rickel went belly-up in 1997.
HD doesn't require showing the Driver's License?
Sounds like he just told them his number - or any number.
Unless he borrowed other people's Driver's license?? I can't imagine giving my license to someone to borrow.
He would give a fake license number
The guy would show the license while it's still in his wallet and then pretend to read the number, but it would be a fake number.
How to do it
I wonder why you can't buy the stuff first, and then come back in with the receipt, collect identical new stuff and get cash for that?
That only works with
That only works with contractors who can actually use those items (this was a big issue when I worked at HD). Otherwise you would at best break even.
I'm intrigued by the
I'm intrigued by the mentality of a person who can spend five years in prison for fraud and IMMEDIATELY start doing the same crimes again thinking either you're better at it now and no one will wise up to your antics -or- everyone around you is just that stupid and you've got this ALLLLLL figured out.
"If convicted...." pretty sure is "When convicted"