Online Fraud Scheme in Roswell Nets Prison Term

A Georgia man was sentenced to serve more than seven years in federal prison for selling more than $9 million in .

Robert A. Hill had an eBay store called atlantis_discount_ warehouse_llc, where he sold the merchandise online to buyers from across the United States, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.

To get merchandise, he worked with a group of identity thieves who used fraudulent credit cards opened in the names of numerous identity theft victims to buy expensive items, such as iPads, iPods, iPhones, computers, Wii game systems, cameras, golf clubs, and tools, from large retail stores.

These co-conspirators used fake drivers’ licenses to apply for new credit cards and take over existing accounts at the stores. They targeted accounts at Best Buy, Sam’s Club, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart, Target, and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Hill then bought the items from his co-conspirators for about 60 percent of their retail value, knowing that the merchandise had been stolen and obtained by fraud.  He sometimes gave the thieves lists of items that he needed for his eBay store.  He sold it at just under retail value to buyers from around the United States.  As part of the scheme, he shipped items to buyers in numerous states, including California, New York, Florida, New Hampshire, Indiana, Maryland, Colorado, North Carolina, Michigan, Illinois, Washington, Virginia, Utah and Maine. 

Search warrants executed at his residence and storage facility uncovered more than $44,000 in cash and a large quantity of high-value electronic equipment in boxes ready for sale.

Hill, 51, now of Swainsboro, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Richard W. Story to serve seven years, three months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $740,446.58.

In a parallel civil action, Judge Amy Totenberg also ordered the forfeiture of over $44,000 in cash, two bank accounts with over $47,000, a 1999 Lexus RS 300, and thousands of dollars’ worth of electronics equipment and jewelry.  Hill was convicted of these charges on Dec. 19, 2012, after pleading guilty.

 “This case demonstrates the ever-increasing need for law abiding citizens to remain vigilant about their personal identifying information and credit profiles,” said Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison, whose investigators helped worked with special agents of the Secret Service on the case.

“The ongoing increase of identity related crimes is concerning and troubling both to the economy and the criminal justice system.  The Cherokee Sheriff’s Office is proud to see justice on behalf of the many victims in this case,” Garrison said.

U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said Hill's "use of the Internet expanded his reach and magnified the crime, ending in millions of dollars of damage to both individual victims and retailers. Today’s prison sentence does justice for the widespread damage he caused."