A Canadian man admitted to stealing $109,452 from retailers in at least 11 states during a nearly six-month crime spree. Arnold and Eureka police worked with Homeland Security investigators to track down a suspect who stole $5,680 from Arnold and Eureka Wal-Mart stores, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office reported.
Mohsen Akbari, 38, pleaded guilty on Dec. 1 to charges of wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 1, according to court records.
Wire fraud charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The interstate transportation of stolen property charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to court documents.
Akbari, a Canadian national, entered the United States on March 1, arriving in Dallas from South Korea on a visitor visa. She then began traveling weekly to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, targeting retail stores such as Walmart. He is said to have stolen money. -Plea bargain.
He plans to rent a car in each state from either Enterprise or peer-to-peer car sharing company Turo to travel between March 1 and Aug. 22, according to the report.
Akbari made small purchases at the store and told the cashier that his family was collecting U.S. currency, usually $100 bills. He then asked the cashier if he could examine the bill in the register to find its serial number, the report said.
Akbari slipped some of the banknotes he was given into his sleeve or pocket. According to his guilty plea, he then plans to return some of the invoices that he claimed were under investigation.
Between June 12th and June 15th, he rented a Kia Sorento from a third party in Creve Coeur through Touro. He then visited seven Walmart stores in the St. Louis area and is suspected of stealing approximately $16,320 from the stores, the complaint states.
On June 15, he allegedly stole $5,100 from the Arnold Walmart and $580 from the Eureka Walmart. Prior to that, he stole $520 and $1,900 from two Walmart stores in St. Peters on June 12th, $6,900 from a Walmart in Granite City, Illinois, on June 13th, and stole $6,900 from a Walmart in Granite City, Illinois, on June 14th. He allegedly stole $420 from a Walmart in the state.He received $900 from Mr. Fallon and a Walmart in Warrenton, the report states.
He allegedly regularly deposited the stolen money into a U.S. bank account and transferred it to a Canadian bank account. According to the complaint, on June 20, he allegedly made six separate deposits totaling $29,800 using an ATM machine in Gary, Indiana.
The Department of Homeland Security, Eureka Police Department, and Arnold Police Department investigated the incident. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman is prosecuting the case.