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THE BLUEPRINT:
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Authorities allege a Queens-based crew stole $2.2M from 128 Home Depot stores across nine states.
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Thirteen defendants charged in a 780-count indictment under and face new NY retail theft laws.
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Alleged crew targeted Long Island stores using coordinated communication and lookouts.
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Stolen goods were allegedly resold via a Brooklyn storefront and Facebook Marketplace.
Authorities say that an alleged Queens-based theft ring charged with stealing $2.2 million of goods from Home Depots had targeted 128 of the retail chain’s locations across nine states, including on Long Island.
On Thursday, officials said that 13 people were charged in a 780-court indictment for allegedly operating a stolen goods and resale ring. Among the charges are grand larceny, conspiracy and criminal possession of stolen property.
In what the Queens District Attorney office is calling “Operation Self Checkout,” prosecutors are also leveraging new laws targeting retail theft that strengthen larceny laws by combining the value of merchandise stolen in separate incidents.
“The defendants took breaks for lunch and dinner, sometimes hitting the same Home Depot up to four times in one day,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a news release.
“The stolen items were then resold to consumers, through a Brooklyn storefront or on Facebook Marketplace,” she added.
Commonly stolen items included insulation kits, reflective roof-coating buckets, power tools, air-conditioners, and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, authorities said.
The alleged ring is charged with hitting Long Island locations, including Farmingdale, Westbury and Bay Shore.
Prosecutors allege that from August 2024 to September 2025, a theft crew led by Armando Diaz of Flushing met almost daily before dawn in East Elmhurst to plan coordinated shoplifting operations at Home Depot stores, that were typically situated near highways.
Targets were selected based on online inventory listings, and Diaz, along with seven crew members, allegedly traveled in a van and a lookout vehicle to each location. Sometimes they would hit as many as four locations in one day, Katz said.
Once inside, three to four crew members who had allegedly entered the store separately, behaved like ordinary shoppers. Prosecutors say Diaz communicated with them through their ear buds, directing what to steal based on the retailer’s website and app, how to avoid attention and when to exit.
The crew members allegedly put the goods in large garbage bins or carts, and sometimes positioned themselves behind strategically placed sheetrock or plywood to shield themselves. Crew members allegedly used distractions to help others leave undetected.
Another defendant, Joana Carolina Fermin, of Hicksville, allegedly monitored parking lots for police presence and advised when to reposition Diaz’s van closer to store exits.
Daily losses per store ranged from roughly $1,800 to nearly $35,000, according to prosecutors.
“Working with our partners at the New York State Police, we brought this brazen operation to a halt,” Katz said.
Attorney information for the defendants was not immediately available.
New state laws, Katz said, “provide prosecutors’ offices with tools to more efficiently investigate, and more effectively charge, organized retail theft and fencing operations.”
Those laws, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in the news release, were enacted after a spike in retail theft after the pandemic.
Excluding items from this operation, state police and local law enforcement partners have recovered over $2.6 million in stolen goods, made 1,261 arrests and filed 2,219 charges in 1,057 retail theft enforcement operations, according to New York State.
On Thursday, the Queens DA’s office said that Diaz was ordered remanded. He and Fermin, according to published reports, pleaded not guilty.
They and other crew members are due back in court on various dates in January.
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Adina Genn
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