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Henrique Costa-Mota, age 26, of West Hartford, is charged with conspiracy and wire fraud in the scheme that he allegedly ran from June 2021 until February 202, the US Attorney for Rhode Island said.
Costa-Mota is accused of going to Home Depot locations across the Northeast dressed as a contractor. He would walk in empty-handed, take several doors from the back of the store, and then "return" them to a customer service agent, authorities said.
They would give him a store credit for the non-receipt returns, and he would use that debit at a different Home Depot. If the store refused to accept the receipt-less return, Costa-Mota would take the doors that he didn't pay for and try again at another store, the US Attorney said.
The US Secret Service investigated Costa-Mota. They allege he fraudulently received 370 store credits that were valued at $297,332 in total.
Outside of Maryland, Costa-Mota is accused of hitting Home Depots in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, the federal prosecutor said.
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