Two indicted in home improvement store theft scheme case

Two people from Southern California are facing a federal indictment alleging they ran a retail theft scheme that targeted home improvement stores across the country, including in Vancouver.

Jalen Amir Thomas, 27, of Santa Monica, Calif., and Armia Ta’Jae Timmons, 25, of Los Angeles, are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 10 counts of wire fraud, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release.

They were arrested this week and appeared Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Prosecutors will ask the two be brought to the Western District of Washington to be arraigned, the news release states.

Investigators say that beginning in March 2022, Thomas led a group, including Timmons, to home improvement stores across the country to rent construction equipment, such as jackhammers and vibratory plate compactors. The equipment was valued between $1,500 and $2,000 each. The group used debit cards to make small deposits and used false identities and telephone numbers to rent the equipment, the news release states.

When the equipment was not returned and the stores tried to charge the debit cards, employees were told there were insufficient funds on the cards. The pair then tried to sell the equipment on online marketplaces at a significant discount, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In total, the group stole about 480 pieces of equipment from stores in Vancouver, Federal Way, Tacoma, Covington, Longview, Bothell, Everett, Redmond and Seattle, the news release states.

Prosecutors say the deposits traveled by wire outside of Washington. The charges in the indictment are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the news release.