U.S. federal prosecutors have charged a 26-year-old Connecticut man with obtaining nearly $300,000 in fraudulent store credit at Home Depot stores in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.
Alexandre Henrique Costa-Mota has entered not guilty pleas to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges. Prosecutors allege that Costa-Mota, dressed to look like a contractor, would load the doors onto a lumber cart and head directly to the service department where he would say he had lost the receipt. He would receive store credits in the form of Home Depot gift cards that totalled, before he was arrested, some $300,000.
