PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A West Hartford man was charged Monday in a scheme to defraud Home Depot stores in eight states to the tune of nearly $300,000.
Prosecutors said that from at least June 2021 to February 2022, Alexandre Henrique Costa-Mota, 26, of West Hartford committed non-receipted return fraud schemes at more than two dozen Home Depot stores located primarily in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, but also in Maine, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.
A federal grand jury in Providence returned an indictment on July 26, charging Costa-Mota with wire fraud and conspiracy. He was arraigned before a judge on Monday and ordered held.
Officials believe Costa-Mota went into the stores empty-handed, dressed to appear like a contractor. He then took Anderson's doors and brought them to each store’s Service Department where he made non-receipted returns of the doors. With each successful return, Costa-Mota was provided with a store credit that he later redeemed at other stores, mainly located in Connecticut. At times, when the stores refused to accept the receipt fewer returns, Costa-Mota left the stores with the Anderson doors without paying for them and then returned the doors at other stores for store credit.
Costa-Mota received approximately 370 fraudulent store credits, valued at $297,332 according to prosecutors.
Doug Stewart is the Senior Digital Content Producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dstewart@fox61.com.
---
Have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com
----
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Steam Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.
