Miami, Florida – Today, a federal district judge in Fort Lauderdale, Florida sentenced three members of a theft ring to federal prison terms for stealing large quantities of N-95 respirator masks, nitrile medical gloves, and medical gowns from a Broward County medical supply company during the early spread of Covid-19 in the United States.
U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith sentenced Alexander G. Jolly, Kenold Million, and Pietro Felipe Sinclair each to 28 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. In addition, Judge Smith ordered the defendants to pay over $470,000 in restitution.
Jolly and Million worked for a large medical supply company that provides personal protective equipment (PPE) and other products to hospitals for front-line health care workers. Sinclair worked for the trucking company that the medical supply company used to transport pallets of products to South Florida hospitals. In April 2020, during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when PPE was in high demand, Jolly and Million used their jobs at the medical supply company’s warehouse in Sunrise, Florida to steal PPE. They moved pallets containing large quantities of N-95 respirator masks, nitrile medical gloves, and gowns to certain areas of the warehouse. Sinclair would load the pallets onto his work truck (along with legitimate loads) and transport the stolen PPE to Jolly and Million’s home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Once there, Sinclair transferred the stolen pallets from the truck to the home’s carport. He used pieces of cardboard and furniture to hide the pallets from view. Then, rental trucks and vans were used to move the stolen PPE from Jolly and Million’s home to different locations in Broward and Miami-Dade.
Jolly, Million and Sinclair stole more than 8.5 million pairs of gloves, more than 57,000 respirator masks, and dozens of gowns from the medical supply company’s warehouse. The total replacement cost of the stolen PPE was $470,000. This was one of the largest known thefts of PPE in U.S. history.
Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Justin C. Fielder, Special Agent in Charge, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Criminal Investigations Miami Field Office, made the announcement.
The FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Miami Field Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Ustynoski prosecuted it.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 22-cr-60007.
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