New York Man Admits Using Fake Credit Cards To Defraud Lowe's

Press release from the U.S. Department of Justice:

Sept. 11, 2020

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that LARELL DAVID, 30, of New York, New York, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to one count of access device fraud stemming from a scheme through which he defrauded Lowe’s home improvement stores in several states of more than $183,000.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from July 2017 through March 2018, David produced more than 100 counterfeit credit cards in the name of “Kevin Douglas,” but encoded with legitimate credit card numbers belonging to other persons. He then used the fraudulent credit cards to make more than 350 purchases of gift cards and merchandise at Lowe’s home improvement stores in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Florida. A typical fraudulent transaction involved the purchase of one or more Lowe’s gift cards in the amount of $400.00, as well as store merchandise.

Lowe’s suffered a loss of $183,576.05 through this scheme, including more than $21,000 in fraudulent transactions conducted at 15 Lowe’s locations in Connecticut.

David was arrested on January 16, 2019.

Judge Dooley scheduled sentencing for December 8, 2020, at which time David faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years. David is released on a $100,000 bond pending sentencing.

This matter has been investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, the Wallingford Police Department and the Connecticut Financial Crimes Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Chen.

This press release was produced by the U.S. Department of Justice. The views expressed here are the author's own.