A Canadian man has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for using sleight of hand and other ruses to steal $109,452 from retailers in at least 11 states during a nearly six-month crime spree. Arnold and Eureka Police worked with Homeland Security investigators to track down the man, who stole $5,680 from Walmart stores in Arnold and Eureka, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office reported.
Mohsen Akbari, 38, was sentenced on April 5 by U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk. He had pleaded guilty Dec. 1 to wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property, court records show.
Along with the prison sentence, Akbari was ordered to repay the stolen money. About $75,000 has already been seized from his accounts, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office reported.
Akbari, who is a Canadian citizen, entered the U.S. on March 1, 2023, arriving in Dallas from South Korea on a visitor’s visa. He then began traveling on a weekly basis to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania and targeted retail stores, including Walmart, to steal money, according to the guilty-plea agreement.
He would rent vehicles in each state from either Enterprise or Turo, a peer-to-peer car-sharing company, to travel in each state between March 1 through Aug. 22, the report said.
Akbari would make small purchases at stores, and then he would tell the cashier that his family col-lects U.S. currency, typically $100 bills. He would then ask the cashier if he could examine the bills in the cash register to examine the serial numbers on the bills, according to the report.
Akbari would slip some of the bills given to him into his sleeve or pocket. He would then return some of the bills he claimed to be examining, according to the guilty plea.
Between June 12 and June 15, he rented a Kia Sorento from a third party in Creve Coeur through Turo. He then went to seven Walmart locations throughout the St. Louis area and allegedly stole about $16,320 from the stores, the plea said.
On June 15, he stole $5,100 from the Arnold Walmart and $580 from the Eureka Walmart. Before that, he allegedly stole $520 and $1,900 on June 12 from two Walmart locations in St. Peters, $6,900 on June 13 from a Walmart in Granite City, Ill., and on June 14, he allegedly stole $420 from a Walmart in O’Fallon and $900 from a Walmart in Warrenton, the report said
He would periodically deposit the stolen money into a U.S. bank account and transfer the money to bank accounts in Canada and on June 20, he made six different deposits using ATM machines in Gary, Ind., for a total of $29,800, the plea said.
Homeland Security, Eureka Police and Arnold Police investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman prosecuted the case.