An Irish couple is to be jailed and deported from the United States for operating a massive bar code manufacturing scam that netted more than $500,000 from home furnishing stores across America.
The couple, Anthony Davenport (59) and Linda Broderick (50) pleaded guilty to six counts of wire fraud in California last week and are to be sentenced in September, along with Scottish national John Patrick Hay (58). All three are being held in a Californian jail until sentencing.
Prosecution attorney Mr John Schmidt said yesterday that the three would be deported when they have completed their jail terms.
In a plea agreement, Davenport and Hay agreed that they manufactured bar codes on a home computer and then purchased expensive home furnishings at a cheaper price by sticking fake bar codes over real store bar codes. They then returned the items to the stores and received the full price for the goods. Broderick has admitted moving more than $125,00 of illegally-obtained cash into a bank account.
The FBI uncovered the scam after the three had operated in California, Texas, and 21 other states for three years.
Mr Davenport's attorney, Mr Dan Horowitz, said that his client had worked as a construction foreman for oil companies in the Middle East and had made money from investing in the English property market.
He said that the three had pleaded guilty to defrauding the Home Depot home furnishing chain for $400,000 but agreed that prosecutors put the real figure much higher.