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New York City resident Larell David, 30, of Manhattan, pleaded guilty in Bridgeport this week to a scheme through which he defrauded the home improvement store out of more than $183,000.
Specifically, David was charged with one count of access device fraud.
U.S. Attorney John Durham said that between July 2017 and March 2018, David produced more than 100 counterfeit credit cards in the name of “Kevin Douglas,” which were encoded with legitimate credit card numbers belonging to other people.
David then used the fraudulent credit cards to make more than 350 purchases of gift cards and merchandise at Lowe’s home improvement stores in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Florida.
Durham said a typical fraudulent transaction involved the purchase of one or more Lowe’s gift cards in the amount of $400, as well as store merchandise.
In total, Lowes suffered a loss of $183,576.05 through this scheme, including more than $21,000 in fraudulent transactions conducted at 15 Lowe’s locations in Connecticut before his arrest on Jan. 16 last year.
Federal authorities did not release the specific locations of the Lowe's stores.
David remains released on a $100,000 bond. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday, Dec. 8, when he will face up to 10 years in prison.
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