SC Target warehouse worker pleads guilty to theft of $95K worth of TVs

A 38-year-old former employee of the Target Distribution Center in Lugoff pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to a label-switching scheme that allowed him to steal more than $95,000 worth of widescreen televisions so he could resell them on the black market.

Rico Bennett, of Columbia, will be sentenced at a later date for transporting stolen goods across state lines, U.S. Judge Mary Geiger Lewis said at Bennett’s hearing at the federal courthouse in Columbia. He could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

Until then, he is free on $25,000 bond.

Another former Target Distribution Center employee, Vincent Rosa, faces the same charges as Bennett but has so far pleaded not guilty to being involved in the scheme. His lawyer, Harrison Saunders VI, could not be reached for comment.

At Monday’s hearing, assistant U.S. Attorney Elliott Daniels outlined the scheme that allowed Bennett to steal numerous high-end televisions, such as LGs and Samsung QLEDs.

Bennett’s job consisted of pulling televisions off the shelves at the Target Distribution Center, putting labels on the packages and then mailing them out to legitimate customers, Daniels said.

But Bennett began printing labels at home with his own address and fixing those labels to packages containing televisions, Daniels said.

Once he received the televisions, Bennett sold them on eBay and by text messages, Daniels said. After receiving payment, he would mail the televisions to people in states such as California, Florida, Texas, Georgia and Illinois, Daniels said.

Target officials grew suspicious and called law enforcement in Kershaw County and the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates interstate fraud cases, Daniels said.

Bennett made more than $119,000 in the scheme from April 2021 to January 2022, an indictment in the case said.

Evidence included surveillance videos, eBay and items seized by search warrant from Bennett’s cellphone and from his house, Daniels said.

“I think Mr. Bennett realizes he made an error in judgment, and he is working everyday to correct that error and make good for society,” said Bennett’s attorney, state Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland.

At the hearing, Bennett said he is now taking welding classes and doing odd jobs such as plumbing.