A Georgia woman who turned a gift card sales job into a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme has been ordered to serve over three years in federal prison. Felecia Ingram, 53, of Covington, was sentenced to 37 months behind bars followed by three years of supervised release after stealing more than $4 million from her former employer, The Home Depot.
Ingram’s scheme began in March 2020 while the COVID-19 pandemic left corporate offices largely empty. Working as a gift card sales associate, she used her access to the company’s Store Support Center to physically take more than 8,000 gift cards.
She then used her network credentials to activate the cards by creating fraudulent orders, making it look as though they were being used for legitimate corporate events. To hide the trail, she deleted the orders from the system.
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“While employed at The Home Depot, the defendant abused the trust placed in her and stole a staggering $4 million from the company,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “She engaged in a calculated scheme that involved entering false gift card orders, which she later deleted to cover her tracks. She has now been sentenced to federal prison to pay for her deceit.”
The investigation, led by the United States Secret Service with cooperation from The Home Depot, revealed that Ingram sold the stolen cards on the black market. Prosecutors stated she used the proceeds to fund an extravagant gambling lifestyle. Between March 2020 and July 2021, she successfully stole 8,325 cards worth a total of $4,085,043.
The fraud was eventually flagged when the company’s gift card team noticed discrepancies in their ledger balances. Ingram pleaded guilty to access device fraud on May 1, 2025.
“Exploiting her position for personal gain, this criminal thought she could use her knowledge of her employer’s business practices to conceal a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme,” said Robert Donovan, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service Atlanta Field Office. “Thanks to the tireless work of our agents, cooperation from the Home Depot, and the skill of the prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she will spend the next three years in prison paying for her crimes.”
In addition to her prison sentence, Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. ordered Ingram to pay $3,946,776 in restitution to The Home Depot.
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