Five men were charged with theft by receiving stolen property Friday, after their alleged multistate fraud ring targeting Home Depot stores came to and end in Utah last week.
Domingo Ursua Samson, 71, Jose Gonsalez Salazar, 44, Anthony Adebayo Ajao, 36; Rony Giron Hernandez, 34; and Jorge Berrios, 40, were all charged in 3rd District Court with theft and receiving stolen property, a second-degree felony.
On May 20, officers from Cottonwood Heights and Midvale received intelligence that an organized crime ring which targets Home Depot stores would strike at a Cottonwood Heights store observed the men arrive in a van "heavily laden" with Home Depot merchandise, according to the charges.
After taken into custody, all of the men told police that they were "part of an organization where workers are driven to Home Depot locations and, acting in concert, steal merchandise pre-selected by the supervisor by use of duplicate or counterfeit cash register receipts and fraudulently obtained gift cards," the charges said.
The merchandise in the van had been stolen at stores along the I-15 corridor from California through Utah, the charges said.
The supervisor of the men, known only as "Luis", escaped capture, according to the charges.
—Ethan Thomas