Greenville Business Owners Convicted by Federal Jury of Mail and Wire Fraud Conspiracy

Greenville, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Jonathan E. Field, age 41, and Shena J. Field, age 40, both of Mauldin, South Carolina, were found guilty of a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.  A federal jury returned guilty verdicts late Friday evening after two hours of deliberation.  United States District Judge Donald C. Coggins of Spartanburg received the verdict and will sentence the Fields after receiving and reviewing a Presentence Investigation Report prepared by the United States Probation Office.   

Evidence presented at trial showed that the Fields owned and operated the business Reboot LLC, which purports to be a used electronics store.  Reboot, however, was an organized fencing operation where shoplifters, many of whom suffered from drug addiction, unloaded their new-in-the-box stolen items for a fraction of the items’ retail value.  The Fields posted the stolen items for sale on EBay and sold the items to honest purchasers who were uninformed as to the status of the items. 

The evidence showed that the Fields welcomed the shoplifters’ business by not requiring production of sales receipts and implementing a no-questions-asked policy at Reboot.  Store records entered into evidence showed that some shoplifters went to Reboot almost every day, and sometimes multiple times per day, to bring stolen goods.  The Fields and store employees would also meet the shoplifters after hours at gas stations and other spots to receive the stolen goods.  If Reboot oversold an item on EBay, the Fields would instruct selected shoplifters to obtain the item for Reboot so as to avoid bad feedback on the EBay website. 

Law enforcement estimates that during the conspiracy period the Fields received hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen merchandise.  Thirteen co-conspirators have pleaded guilty and admitted their involvement in the Reboot criminal enterprise. 

The maximum sentence the Fields face is 20 years in federal prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years of court-ordered supervision. 

This case was investigated by the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Secret Service.  Assistant United States Attorneys Andrew B. Moorman, Sr., and Bill Watkins of the Greenville office handled the case. 

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