FLORIDA – Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecution has secured a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence and a $300,000 restitution order for the ringleader of an organized retail theft ring.
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Chanthan Scott Khouleanghak and five other group members reportedly enacted a scheme of purchasing new televisions from Walmart stores in Polk County, then several days later made returns claiming the items were damaged for cash.
However, Khouleanghak is said to have brought older, broken televisions to pass off as new merchandise and sold the newer items to a secondhand electronics dealer in Georgia.
The ring represented 500 televisions as authentic in more than 1,000 separate transactions, according to Moody.
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“This organized retail theft ring stole hundreds of televisions from Walmart by purchasing new TVs and then making returns with older, broken televisions—not only profiting from cash returns but also selling the new items to a secondhand dealer,” said Moody.
“Thanks to our law enforcement partners and my statewide prosecutors, the ringleader of this massive scheme will spend time behind bars and is ordered to pay $300,000 in restitution.”
According to an investigation by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO), Walmart loss prevention specialists noticed suspects attempting to return televisions at two separate Polk County Walmart locations. The investigation is said to have revealed the group purchased new televisions and returned them as damaged with the receipts for cash.
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However, detectives compared serial numbers and said they found numbers removed or inconsistent with the numbers on the televisions originally purchased.
The investigation also uncovered Khouleanghak’s bank records that reportedly showed checks worth thousands of dollars deposited from a secondhand electronics dealer who purchased the new televisions from Khouleanghak.
Authorities in Georgia assisted PCSO with a controlled buy of televisions from the secondhand dealer and confirmed that the televisions were part of the criminal fraud, Moody’s office said.
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According to the Office of the Attorney General, criminal group members include Jorge Ortiz, Jacorri Holland, Michelle Maki Walker, Eric Grigsby, and Khristian Edwards.
Ortiz is currently serving time in prison. Arrest warrants are currently out for Holland and Walker. Grigsby is deceased. Edwards is under the supervision of the Florida Department of Corrections.
The judge sentenced Khouleanghak to seven and a half years in prison, followed by five years probation on charges of organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, trafficking in stolen property, and cheating.
Khouleanghak was also ordered to pay $300,000 in restitution.
Attorney General Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecutors handled the case.
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