A St. Louis man was convicted on Tuesday by a federal jury for orchestrating a scheme that defrauded Kohl’s of more than $200,000 in merchandise.
According to evidence presented during the trial, Marshall Lampkin, 35, used “Kohl’s Cash” to make large purchases at Kohl’s stores and then exploited the delay before those transactions registered. Lampkin would use the same Kohl’s Cash online to order additional merchandise. He would then return the in-store purchases for a refund in Kohl’s Cash and repeat the process. Testimony showed this method was used over 100 times across 40 stores in 13 states during 2021 and 2022.
Items obtained through this scheme included flooring, furniture, small appliances, and other goods. These were shipped to storage units in St. Louis and to a relative’s residence in Illinois. Evidence indicated that Lampkin later sold or attempted to sell these items through Facebook advertisements.
Investigators recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of Kohl’s merchandise from Lampkin’s storage units.
After a trial that began Monday, jurors found Lampkin guilty of five counts of mail fraud within seven minutes of deliberation. Sentencing is set for December.
The U.S. Secret Service and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Ladendorf and Derek Wiseman are prosecuting.
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