A Roswell man was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison for operating an eBay online store that sold items bought using stolen identities.
Robert A. Hill, 51, pleaded guilty in December to interstate transportation of stolen property, according to federal court officials.
Hill, prosecutors said, bought high-dollar electronics and other items, such as golf clubs, tools, iPhones, computers, video gaming systems and iPads, at 60 percent of their retail value from co-conspirators.
His cohorts used fake drivers’ licenses to get credit cards or to take over accounts at major retail stores like Home Depot, Target, Best Buy, Walmart, Lowe’s, Sam’s Club and Dick’s Sporting Goods, authorities said.
Over 10 years, ending in 2011, prosecutors said Hill sold more than $9 million in merchandise through his eBay store called atlantis_discount_warehouse_llc, and he knowingly did business with the fraudsters, often giving them lists of items he needed for his store, prosecutors said.
He stored the merchandise in ready-to-ship containers at his Alpharetta storage facility, and would ship items to customers across the country, authorities said. Federal agents found high-value electronic items and more than $44,000 in cash at the facility, court officials said.
“Robert Hill fueled his Internet-based fraud with the help of a group of identity thieves who gave him a steady supply of merchandise,” United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in a statement. “His use of the Internet expanded his reach and magnified the crime, ending in millions of dollars of damage to both individual victims and retailers. Today’s prison sentence does justice for the widespread damage he caused.”
Hill was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison, followed by three years of probation, court officials said.
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