PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Rusmaldy Jimenez-Hiciano, 38, of Goose Creek, SC, was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay full restitution of $536,000 and forfeiture of $461,000 by United States District Court Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl for his role in perpetrating a mail fraud scheme to steal high-end electronics from his former employer, Walmart.
In June 2022, the defendant pleaded guilty to four counts of mail fraud and admitted in court that he masterminded a scheme to steal and re-sell expensive electronics. In late 2017, the defendant, a long-time employee at Walmart’s Bethlehem, PA, distribution center, devised a plan to defraud the company by hiding certain high-end electronic merchandise when it came into the warehouse on delivery trucks; mailing that merchandise via FedEx to addresses in Allentown controlled by the defendant; selling the stolen goods; and sharing the proceeds with others.
“Jimenez-Hiciano stole hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of goods from his former employer,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “Instead of doing the right thing and performing his job honestly, he took advantage of his position and his employer. Our Office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect innocent individuals and businesses from being victimized by financial fraud.”
“HSI and our partners in the Pennsylvania State Police and the U.S. Attorney’s office have struck another blow against criminals who use our commercial systems to commit crimes that damage our business infrastructure, slow our delivery systems, and ultimately harm consumers through higher prices,” said William S. Walker, Special Agent in Charge of the HSI Philadelphia office. “Crimes such as organized mail fraud schemes inflict severe and long-reaching damage to American consumers. Congratulations to the dedicated agents and prosecutors who worked on this investigation.”
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations and the Pennsylvania State Police, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mary E. Crawley.