He spent $6K at Lowe’s with stolen card — then sold the stuff at half price, feds say
A 49-year-old man from Louisiana is accused of using stolen personal information to try and buy thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from Lowe’s Home Improvement and Best Buy stores in Louisiana.
Now he’s facing federal charges.
Corey “Schoolboy” Thomas, of New Orleans, was indicted in October on charges of wire fraud, identity theft and lying to federal investigators, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Louisiana said. Prosecutors said the indictment wasn’t unsealed until Nov. 10 to “protect the integrity of the investigation.”
A public defender representing Thomas and representatives from Lowe’s and Best Buy did not immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment on Monday.
According to the indictment, the charges date to early 2019 when Thomas reportedly got a hold of someone’s personal identifiable information. Prosecutors referred to the person as “victim 1” in court filings.
Personal identifiable information, or PII, is sensitive data such as a social security number, driver’s license or bank account that can be used to trace a person’s identity.
Thomas is accused of first using the stolen information on Jan. 1, 2019, when prosecutors said he tried to open a credit account in someone else’s name at a Best Buy in Lafayette on a $4,830 purchase. Thomas used the victim’s name, address and zip code but a different phone number and email address while applying for the card, the government said.
The transaction was ultimately denied.
Nearly two weeks later on Jan. 13, 2019, Thomas used the victim’s credit account at Lowe’s to buy $6,239 worth of merchandise from a store in New Orleans, prosecutors said. Someone else then paid Thomas $3,000 for everything he bought — even picking the items up from Lowe’s, the indictment states.
Thomas tried unsuccessfully to repeat the alleged scheme three more times at other Lowe’s locations in Baton Rouge and Slidell, the government said.
Each of the transactions totaled between $1,800 and $2,400, court documents show.
When federal agents confronted him about surveillance footage that showed him at Lowe’s attempting to make the fraudulent purchases, prosecutors said he lied and said it wasn’t him.
A grand jury indicted Thomas on one count of wire fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of lying to federal agents. He faces up to 20 years in prison on the wire fraud charge, two years in prison for each count of identity theft and up to five years for making false statements.
This story was originally published November 15, 2021 at 6:19 PM with the headline "He spent $6K at Lowe’s with stolen card — then sold the stuff at half price, feds say."
