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Members of Meijer retail fraud ring charged in $805K Michigan counterfeit coupon scheme

Nine people were named in court documents

Several people are facing charges after Meijer discovered hundreds of thousands of dollars lost in a retail crime scheme.

The scheme goes back to at least 2018, and police say at least $805,000 was stolen from the store chain in counterfeit coupon barcodes from several people.

Nine people were named in court documents as being part of the criminal enterprise. Eight of the nine had criminal cases filed against them, including Elizabeth Tejada, Sara Tejada, Efrain Tejada, Thomas Ragen and Kristin Ragen, Travis Gale, Travis Plotts and Christine Day.

Court documents say many of them are either married, related, or know each other in some way.

Officials said they found Visa and Mastercard gift cards fraudulently obtained from Meijer in the homes of the alleged people involved.

Court documents suggest most of the alleged people involved have already been sentenced to a minimum of three years in prison, as state officials say $13 million in losses to Michigan businesses in the past year.


About the Author

Brandon Carr is a digital content producer for ClickOnDetroit and has been with WDIV Local 4 since November 2021. Brandon is the 2015 Solomon Kinloch Humanitarian award recipient for Community Service.

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