A Missouri man who stole nearly $600,000 in items from The Home Depot and then returned them for gift cards was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White also ordered Xavier Brown, 46, of Vinita Park, to repay the retailer $598,036.
Brown, who also goes by Xaiviar Brown, was convicted by a jury in May of four counts of wire fraud and one count of unauthorized use of an access device.
From 2017 to 2021, Brown stole from Home Depot stores and then made more than 1,900 returns of that merchandise across 20 states, using more than 1,700 different temporary driver’s licenses to conceal his scheme. Brown, having no receipts, was given store credit or gift cards.
“There’s a reason that the saying “Crime doesn’t pay” has stood the test of time. Xavier Brown hid his scheme by defrauding Home Depot in different states until it caught up to him,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Mark Dargis of the FBI St. Louis Division. “As soon as Home Depot detected Brown’s suspicious activities, the business contacted the FBI which resulted in the nine-year sentence in federal prison.”
The FBI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Lane prosecuted the case.
