Kansas City, Missouri criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant charged with transporting stolen property across state lines.

Federal Courthouse - Kansas City, Missouri

MoreLaw Legal News For Kansas City

Frank J. Santa Maria, age 58, of Leawood, Kansas admitted that he knowingly purchased approximately 100,860 items that had been stolen from various retailers in the Kansas City area, such as Target, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe's, CVS, and Walgreens. Santa Maria then posted the stolen items for sale on multiple eBay pages and shipped them to purchasers across the country, resulting in gross proceeds of approximately $3,079,342.



Today's plea agreement refers to four unidentified "boosters,” or shoplifters, from whom Santa Maria purchased such stolen items as ink cartridges, Crest Whitestrips, Rogaine products, Nicorette products, over-the-counter supplements and medications, Spypoint cameras, Nikon rangefinders, and electric fence systems over a four-and-a-half-year period from Jan. 1, 2017, to July 24, 2021.



During the execution of a search warrant at J's Pawn on Oct. 21, 2021, officers seized 4,749 items that Santa Maria does not contest were stolen property.Under the terms of today's plea agreement, Santa Maria must forfeit to the government all property derived from the proceeds of the offense, including a money judgment of $2,752,352. Santa Maria must also forfeit $302,172 that was seized from his bank account in a pending civil asset forfeiture proceeding.



Under federal statutes, Santa Maria is subject to a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.



This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas Heberle, Matthew Wolesky, and Anthony Brown. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Defendant pled guilty.