Deputies: Theft ring used gift cards from Home Depot

Polk County deputies say they broke up a retail theft ring that hit Home Depot stores in six Central Florida counties.

The suspects stole items such as flooring and vanities, then returned them for gift cards, deputies said. One person would distract the clerk at self-checkout lanes while the other walked out with the merchandise, deputies said.

The stores were in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Polk and Hillsborough counties, officials said.

The suspected ringleader — Alberto Vera-Caraballo, 48, of Orlando — sold the gift cards to a jewelry store in Altamonte Springs for less than face value. He’s at the Orange County Jail.

Two suspects are in custody, but the other two remain at large.

In all, the suspects obtained 271 Home Depot gift cards totaling $220,000 between July 2016 and June of this year, according to deputies. Vera-Caraballo sold them for $149,000, deputies said.

Deputies said the suspects sometimes used their own IDs. The suspects used 15 stolen IDs to return the items, authorities say.

Home Depot recently changed its return policy and no longer allows the private sale of Home Depot gift cards, the Sheriff ’s Office said.

The other suspects are Victor Diaz-Martinez, 50, of Orlando, and Alexander Febles-Mirelis, 36, and his wife, Giselle Sanchez Jaula, 40, of Kissimmee.

A fifth person — Vera-Caraballo’s girlfriend — also was facing arrest, but she died last month on her 40th birthday, deputies said.

The charges include conspiracy to commit fraud over $50,000 and organized dealing in stolen property.

Febles-Mirelis and Sanchez Jaula are not yet in custody, and authorities think they might be in the Miami area.