Father-daughter duo gets prison for selling stolen goods at Georgia stores, feds say

A father-daughter duo’s plot to specialize in selling stolen goods proved to be a costly decision when both were sentenced this month to prison time, according the Department of Justice’s Northern District of Georgia.

Robert Whitley, 70, and Noni Whitley, 47 — both from Atlanta — must also pay a combined $4,348,762.90 in restitution to retailers who federal officials said were victimized by teams of shoplifters. The Whitleys were sentenced Oct. 5.

The duo were accused of selling more than $6.1 million worth of stolen retail products through two stores: Closeout Express and Essential Daily Discounts.

Investigators say the well-organized operation successfully filled tens of thousands of orders online between 2011 and 2019, when federal officials shut it down.

Robert Whitley owned Closeout Express and he operated it out of “a warehouse and several residences” in the Atlanta area with the help of his daughter, officials said.

“The defendants relied on ‘boosters’ — who are essentially professional shoplifters — to steal specific retail products or categories of items, including over-the-counter medications ... and health and beauty aids,” federal officials said.

“The boosters would typically bring the stolen product in large trash bags to Closeout Express’s warehouse in southwest Atlanta,” officials said. “Robert and Noni Whitley paid the boosters in cash for the stolen product.”

Stores targeted by the teams of shoplifters included national drugstore and supermarket chains, officials said, “including CVS, Kroger, Publix, Target, and Walgreens.”

The stolen items were then sold at reduced prices “through various online e-commerce platforms, including the Amazon Marketplace, the Walmart Marketplace, and the Sears Marketplace,” officials said.

The most successful of the “online storefronts” operated via Amazon Marketplace and is credited with selling “more than 140,000 items,” officials said, while an additional 30,000 orders were filled through Walmart and Sears Marketplaces.

Federal searches of the Closeout Express warehouse and associated homes “recovered more than $1 million in stolen retail product,” officials said.

Robert Whitley pleaded guilty to “interstate transportation of stolen property” and was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison, officials said.

Noni Whitley pleaded guilty to “conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property” and received a five-year prison sentence, officials said.

Both face three years of supervised release after their prison sentences are served, officials said.

This story was originally published October 12, 2021 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Father-daughter duo gets prison for selling stolen goods at Georgia stores, feds say."