Arlington Man Who Schemed $1.1 Million From Home Depot by Reusing Receipts for Refunds Sentenced to Prison

An Arlington man was sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a $1 million scheme to defraud Home Depot by reusing receipts for refunds with a fraudulently obtained tax exempt ID.Henry Lamon Spruiell, 46, was sentenced Monday following a guilty plea in January to one count of using an unauthorized access device, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker.Judge Sam A. Lindsay ordered that he pay restitution of $1,139,076. Judge Lindsay also ordered Spruiell surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on July 11.Spruiell devised a scheme from June 2013 to January 2016 to defraud Home Depot of money and property, officials said according to documents filed. Spruiell or his associates used a fraudulently obtained tax exempt ID in Spruiell’s name at various Home Depot stores in North Texas and elsewhere to obtain sales tax refunds in store credits or cash from Home Depot, officials said. They presented copies of sales receipts acquired by Spruiell.Spruiell and his associates showed copies of sales receipts that they acquired from his own purchases and purchases made by others who used information that sent the receipts to Spruiell’s email address, officials said.After they received the funds, they would reuse the tax exempt IDs and reuse the same copies of the sales receipts by presenting them to multiple Home Depot stores to obtain repeat refunds on the same receipts, officials said. Spruiell obtained refunds at 18 different Home Depot retail stores. The Home Depot estimated the total refunds of the scheme is approximately $1,122,357.71 as of January 2016, officials said.The investigation was executed by the United States Secret Service and Home Depot investigators.  Continue reading...