FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports

Leawood man pleads guilty to $3M pawn shop scheme

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Leawood man accused of making millions by selling stolen property online pleaded guilty to the scheme.

Frank J. Santa Maria, 58, used to manage J’s Pawn at Brush Creek Boulevard and The Paseo in Kansas City. His wife owned the shop for about 20 years before it closed in January.

Federal court documents show prosecutors allege Santa Maria used the pawn shop to buy stolen property from shoplifters. Items included things like ink cartridges, Crest Whitestrips, Rogaine products, Nicorette products, over-the-counter supplements and medications, Spypoint cameras, Nikon rangefinders, and electric fence systems.

Prosecutors said all of the items were stolen from big box retailers across the Kansas City area.

To profit from the stolen property, court documents show Santa Maria sold the stolen items through multiple Ebay pages.

Over the years, federal prosecutors allege Santa Maria made $3 million by selling more than 100,000 stolen items online.

As part of a deal, Santa Maria pleaded guilty to transporting stolen property across state lines. He is required to forfeit all property he bought with the money he made by selling the items. He must also forfeit more than $300,000 he had in a bank account.

Santa Maria faces up to 10 years in federal prison without parole when he is sentenced at a later date.