POLK COUNTY, Fla. — The Polk County Sheriff's Office has arrested and charged six out of eight people who they say are involved in a statewide business fraud scheme that cost two companies from Lakeland and Clearwater a total of $104,798.65.
- Polk County Sheriff's Office busts statewide business fraud
- Officials say ringleader operated from prison
- Six people out of eight involved arrested
The Sheriff's Office first became aware of the scheme in November of 2017 when Tapia Construction of Lakeland reported fraudulent activity on their Home Depot business account. The company reported that fraudulent transactions of merchandise and gift cards totaling $45,388.81 were made in multiple cities across the state. This started in June of 2017.
According to the report, Tapia Construction's Lowe's account was hit by the group in 2018, stealing an additional $47,434.76.
Yarbrough Electric, Inc. of Clearwater was also hit by the group. Detectives notified the company that the group was possibly accessing the company's business accounts, and in one day, they had $11,975.08 charged to their account in two different cities.
A third company, Fast of Florida in Clearwater, had $1,618.76 charged to their account, but the transaction was stopped promptly.
During the investigation, detectives determined the ringleader of the group, Bobby Staley, conducted the operation from Liberty Correctional Institute in Liberty County. Other members of the group worked out of Jacksonville, Tampa, and Fort Lauderdale.
"The ringleader of this complex organized crime scheme that spanned six judicial circuits in Florida orchestrated the fraud from prison, depriving the victims of more than a hundred thousand dollars," Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said.
According to the report, Staley made calls to banks from inside prison, telling call takers that he was the owner of the business. He established new mailing addresses in Jacksonville, where five of the suspects live. New credit cards were then linked to the victims' accounts. Staley bragged to witnesses about smuggling cell phones into prison to assist in the scheme. He also recruited his daughter Adriana Staley to take part.
Due to the scale of this operation throughout Florida, The Office of Statewide Prosecution is also involved.
The nationwide companies that were affected include: Home Depot, Lowe's, Citibank, and Synchrony Bank.
Officials said the suspects used aliases and fake driver licenses to purchase 557 gift cards—Visa, MasterCard, Home Depot, Lowe's, and others—and merchandise.
Two of the eight suspects, Staley and Curtis Harris, are currently in the Broward County jail. Staley was sentenced to Florida prison in 2013 for a similar scheme he committed in 2009. After getting released in October of 2018 for good behavior, he was arrested a few weeks later for violating probation.
Four other suspects, Christopher Coaxum, Leonard Robinson, Nahshon Williams, and Katrina Cyrus, were taken into custody in Duvall County Thursday morning. Officials said Ken Theogene and Adriana Staley remain at-large.
Suspects arrested:
Bobby Staley, 42, currently resides in the Broward County Jail. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), and Money Laundering (F3). Staley's criminal history consists of 102 felony charges and 17 Misdemeanor Charges (plus 16 charges of unknown levels). He has gone to prison 5 times.
Curtis Harris, 28, Fort Lauderdale, but currently in the Broward County Jail. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), Money Laundering (F3), Fraudulent Use of Credit Card (F3), and Possession of Stolen Credit Card (F3). Harris' criminal history includes 17 Felony and 11 Misdemeanor charges (plus 10 charges of unknown levels).
Christopher Coaxum, 34, Jacksonville. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), Money Laundering (F3), Fraudulent Use of Credit Card (F3), and Possession of Stolen Credit Card (F3). Coaxum's criminal history consists of 4 Felony and 3 Misdemeanor charges (plus 4 charges of unknown levels).
Nahshon Williams, 35, Jacksonville. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), Money Laundering (F3), Fraudulent Use of Credit Card (F3), and Possession of Stolen Credit Card (F3). Williams' criminal history consists of 1 Felony and 1 Misdemeanor charges.
Leonard Robinson III, 34, Jacksonville. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), Money Laundering (F3), Fraudulent Use of Credit Card (F3), and Possession of Stolen Credit Card (F3). Robinson's criminal history consists of 2 Misdemeanor charges.
Katrina Cyrus, 33, Jacksonville. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), and Cheating (F3). Cyrus has no criminal history.
Still at-large:
Ken Theogene, 36, Tampa. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), Money Laundering (F3), Fraudulent Use of Credit Card (F3), Possession of Stolen Credit Card (F3), and Grand Theft (F1). Theogene's criminal history consists of 7 Felony and 4 Misdemeanor charges (plus 5 charges of unknown levels). He has been to prison once before.
Adriana Staley, 18, Jacksonville. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), and Money Laundering (F3). Staley has no criminal history.