Pittsburgh resale business owner convicted of selling $4.3M worth of stolen retail items

PITTSBURGH — The owner of a resale business in Pittsburgh was convicted of running a lucrative interstate fencing operation involving the sale of hundreds of thousands of stolen retail items.

Durrell Waters, 41, was found guilty of four counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy after a federal jury deliberated for five hours.

The Department of Justice said that evidence presented in the trial showed Walters was one of the owners of a series of second-hand or resale businesses called Trader Electronics, Last Call Entertainment and The Outlet. Waters conspired with others to use these businesses as a front for a criminal fencing operation that sold a wide variety of health and beauty aids and over-the-counter medications over the internet.

Officials said from 2013 to 2016, retailers in the greater Pittsburgh area experienced a drastic uptick in the volume of thefts occurring at their stores. The investigation into those thefts led to the discovery that Waters’s stores and similar stores in the area engaged in high-volume purchases of brand-new retail health and beauty aids and other products from sellers who had shoplifted the items.

Evidence suggested Waters and his co-conspirators knew that most of the items were stolen.

“Durrell Waters and his conspirators brazenly used their second-hand stores as a front for fencing massive amounts of shoplifted retail products—some with the store identification and security stickers still intact—that they then turned around and sold for millions of dollars to online customers across the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan. “To pull off their scheme, they relied on desperate people deep in the throes of addiction to maintain the flow of stolen goods, using them to steal from and ultimately undercut legitimate retailers. The ‘boosters’ in this case were reportedly lined up down the street outside Waters’s stores in the morning—waiting to get their first cash of the day so they could pay their dealers. This successful prosecution is the result of a regional effort involving the cooperation of many local law enforcement agencies, as well as the IRS, FBI, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service. We are committed to holding accountable those who would exploit the opioid epidemic as a way to line their pockets.”

Store records reflected that Waters and his businesses purchased hundreds of thousands of brand-new items from a group of repeat shoplifters. Waters and his businesses then resold that stolen property online via several Amazon and eBay storefronts, with the proceeds from the stores’ main Amazon account totaling over $4.3 million during the conspiracy, the Department of Justice said.

Waters on several occasions bailed some of those same so-called “boosters” out of jail following their arrests for stealing goods and allowed the individuals to repay him the bail money in the form of other stolen goods, officials said.

“Legitimate businesses and the greater community suffer when fraud and money laundering take place,” said FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek. “The ripple effect of consequences from these criminal acts undermines the foundations of fairness and trust in the economy. The FBI and our partners continue to work diligently to investigate and bring to justice those who feel they can get ahead through criminal means.”

Waters’s co-defendant and co-owner of the various resale shops, Anthony Costanzo, 35, of Carnegie, pleaded guilty on July 24 to four counts of engaging in monetary transactions involving property from an unlawful act. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 17.

Waters’s sentencing date has yet to be announced. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each money laundering count, as well as a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain for the conspiracy charge.

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