A Texas woman who stole goods from various stores across the United States over a 19-year period has been sentenced to 54 months in prison. Kim Richardson, 63, visited retail stores and stole merchandise which she subsequently listed for sales on eBay and through direct sales to customers over the internet.
She would sometimes repackage the stolen items and send them off to customers via US mail, Federal Express, and United Parcel Service. To facilitate her thefts from various stores, Richardson developed a way to disable the security protocols of many stores she robbed and hid stolen items in a big black bag which she always carried with her for such operations.
“Richardson stole items from numerous retail stores. She used shoplifting tools to disable security devices and would exit the store by placing the stolen merchandise in a large black bag she carried,” said US Attorney Ryan K. Patrick. “Richardson assisted in the sale of the items on the Internet as well as packaging and mailing the stolen items.”
After she was nabbed following investigations by the FBI and Secret Service, Richardson confessed to her crimes and the court ordered her to pay back $3.8 million in restitution. Apart from the 54-month sentence, Richardson will also serve three years of supervised release when she is released from prison.
She was ordered to pay restitution of $3.8 million because the judge believed that that is the amount she made from the illicit sales of stolen goods over the 19 years she operated. Investigators found that she used four different PayPal accounts to sell her stolen merchandise. The sentencing judge said it was not possible to trace everyone who bought goods from Richardson and every store she had stolen from.
After pleading guilty to her crime in December 2019, Richardson was released on bond. But the court ordered her to surrender herself to a US Bureau of Prisons facility at a future date that will be communicated to her.
Source: cnn.com
