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NJ Man Accused of Stealing $200,000 in Merchandise from B&N

7702106526_26ccbaec85_hBarnes & Noble might not be able to turn a profit on their chain of novelty shops bookstores liquor stores, but that isn’t true for everyone.

A New Jersey man stands accused of shoplifting more than $200,000 worth of books and other merchandise from Barnes & Noble stores in Florida, New Jersey, and elsewhere, US Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced last week.

The man reportedly started his criminal enterprise in 2007, and kept it going until early 2014. Prosecutors say that he used a metal-lined “booster bag” to foil anti-theft alarms at stores, and then sold the stolen goods on Ebay under a number of aliases, including "Stand-upcomics386", "Overstockgallery", "Threefolks", "Gothrifty123", and "Coyne412", to conceal his identity and maintain a lower profile.

It was an effective idea, but that only worked for so long; the perpetrator was eventually caught when US postal workers became suspicious about the items he was mailing (the black gloves and mask did not tip off B&N staff, apparently).

The man stands charged with transportation of stolen goods, a crime which is punishable by a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He is currently released on a $250,000 unsecured bond.

Patch, NJ.com

image by MikeKalasnik

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Comments


Doug January 29, 2016 um 2:04 pm

B&N consistently turns a profit from its bookstores. Alas, it ends up using that money to make up for the consistent losses of its online properties, BN.com and NOOK.


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