Federal prosecutors say the Covington woman exploited her company access to steal and sell thousands of activated gift cards during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that 53-year-old Felecia Ingram, a former Home Depot associate, has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison after admitting to stealing over $4 million in gift cards from the company’s Store Support Center.
Key Points
- Felecia Ingram, 53, stole and sold more than 8,000 gift cards worth over $4 million
- She created and deleted false corporate orders to conceal the fraud
- Ingram was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $4 million in restitution
Fraud scheme spanned pandemic years
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Ingram worked as a gift card sales associate for The Home Depot beginning in 2008. Between March 2020 and July 2021, while many employees were working remotely, she used her access credentials to remove more than 8,000 physical gift cards from the company’s Atlanta facility.
Investigators said Ingram fraudulently activated the cards by entering fake orders into the system, making it appear they were issued for legitimate corporate purposes such as company events. She later deleted the false entries to hide the thefts, then sold the cards on the black market. Prosecutors said she used the proceeds to fund a lavish gambling lifestyle.
Company audit uncovered multimillion-dollar loss
The Home Depot’s internal gift card team discovered the fraud after identifying discrepancies in ledger balances. A subsequent investigation revealed Ingram had stolen 8,325 cards with a combined value of $4,085,043 over roughly 16 months.
U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. sentenced Ingram to three years and one month in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $3,946,776 in restitution.
U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said Ingram “abused the trust placed in her and stole a staggering $4 million from the company,” while the U.S. Secret Service credited investigators and corporate cooperation for uncovering “a calculated, multi-million-dollar fraud.”