CHARLOTTE, NC – Bobby Cherry, 58, of Manning, South Carolina, appeared yesterday before judge David C. Keesler and pleaded guilty to conspiracy for electronic fraud, for his role in a scheme that defrauded Lowe’s by more than $ 450,000 , announced William T Stetzer, acting US Attorney for the West District of North Carolina.
US Attorney Stetzer joined this announcement by Ronnie Martinez, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Charlotte.
According to the filed confession documents and today’s hearing, from August 2019 to March 2020, Cherry and her two co-defendants, Russel Leroy Calvin and Michael Marcel Montgomery, along with other co-conspirators, defrauded Lowe’s for through a scheme involving fraudulent business accounts. According to court records, Cherry and her co-defendants created fictitious landscaping and home improvement companies to open fraudulent business accounts with Lowe’s, which they used to make various purchases at stores in the Charlotte area and throughout North Carolina , South Carolina and Georgia. Court records show that once the fraudulent business accounts were approved and financed, co-defendants used them to purchase expensive landscaping equipment, such as zero-turn lawn mowers and other items. In total, during the course of the scheme, co-conspirators opened at least 25 fraudulent commercial accounts, which they used to obtain more than $ 450,000 in goods fraudulently purchased. The scheme involved local Lowe’s stores in Mecklenburg, Gaston, Union, Lincoln, Cleveland and Iredell counties.
Cherry pleaded guilty to an electronic fraud conspiracy that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $ 250,000 fine. Michael Marcel Montgomery pleaded guilty to the same charge on February 1, 2021. The sentence date for Cherry and Montgomery has not been set. The charges against the third co-defendant, Russell Leroy Calvin, are still pending, and Calvin is found not guilty unless and until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt in court.
In making today’s announcement, acting US Attorney Stetzer thanked ICE-HSI for its investigation of the case.
The assistant United States attorney, William Bozin, of the United States Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, is in charge of the prosecution.