A pair of Taunton girls went on a three-month-long purchasing spree at Stop and Shop, allegedly racking up 300 bottles of cloth freshener and a whole bunch of different merchandise earlier than promoting them on social media.
The enterprise proved to be unlawful, with the 2 girls being indicted on fees they ran an organized, counterfeit coupon operation and stole almost $27,000 in merchandise, in accordance with Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz.
A Plymouth County grand jury on Tuesday returned indictments charging Jacqueline White, 41, and Crystal Travis, 40, with one rely every of larceny by false pretense by single scheme and larceny to induce parting with private property.
White additionally faces a cost of organized retail theft.
The spree lasted from March 10 by means of June 2, with White and Travis utilizing counterfeit coupons to steal roughly $26,547 of merchandise from 13 Stop and Shop grocery shops in Massachusetts and two others in Rhode Island, the indictments allege.
White and Travis used social media websites and apps like Facebook and Dropbox to buy what investigators described as “high quality, counterfeit coupons that contained barcodes and graphic designs,” mirroring “legitimate third-party coupons.”
“The two women committed the theft by passing counterfeit coupons to unsuspecting Stop and Shop cashiers,” the Plymouth DA’s workplace mentioned in a launch. “The fake coupons allegedly White and Travis steep discounts, sometimes undercutting the total retail value of the products.”
Specifically, the enterprise started on March 10 when White and Travis purchased 366 objects — drinks, laundry detergent, hygiene merchandise and dishwashing cleaning soap — value $1,658.28 with a Stop and Shop Rewards Program card.
But the fraudulent coupons, totaling $1,655, knocked that determine all the way down to a mere $3.28 the pair owed the shop at an undisclosed location, in accordance with the indictment.
“After absconding with the items, the pair posted photographs of the products on social media sites, namely Facebook, offering to sell the goods at steeply discounted prices,” officers mentioned within the launch. “The girls requested potential patrons to fulfill them at a location in Taunton and funds for the merchandise had been to be made in money.
The Coupon Information Center, a Florida-based nonprofit that fights coupon fraud, despatched a web based notification to White on April 26 that she had been related to unlawful counterfeit coupon actions and to cease the operation.
But the spree continued for one more month and a half. White and Travis hit Stop and Shop shops in Quincy, Weymouth, Raynham, Plainville, Whitman, Abington, Pembroke, Norwell, Hingham, North Dartmouth, New Bedford, Sandwich and Brockton, in addition to East Providence and Pawtucket in Rhode Island, in accordance with the Plymouth DA’s workplace.
Some of the bigger objects stolen embrace 300 bottles of cloth freshener, 275 instances of antibacterial wipes, 226 bottles of laundry detergent and 219 cans of air disinfectant, amongst others.
Abington and Hingham police performed the investigation, receiving assist from the Coupon Information Center.
White and Travis can be arraigned in Brockton Superior Court at a later date.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”