Florida couple ran 6-figure retail theft scheme on eBay

FILE - An eBay app is shown on a mobile phone, July 11, 2019, in Miami. Online marketplace behemoth eBay said it plans to no longer accept American Express, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, citing what the company says are “unacceptably high fees” and that customers have other payment options to shop online. I(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

(NewsNation) — An elderly Florida couple pleaded guilty for their involvement in selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stolen merchandise on their eBay store “dickandgail,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.

The Naples couple, Richard Murtaugh, 81, and Gail Murtaugh, 77, began the retail theft scheme as early as September 2020, according to the Middle District of Florida Attorney’s Office.

The couple got away with personal hygiene products, grooming supplies, nicotine products, dental care supplies and more from stores and grocers in the southwest Florida area over multiple years, video surveillance shows.

The Murtaughs resold the goods, making a profit of more than $175,000, according to eBay records police reviewed.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service searched the couple’s home in April 2022, finding some of the stolen merchandise that matched items seen in past surveillance footage.

As part of their guilty pleas, the two forfeited the money they made online.

They face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Their sentencing date has not been set.