Police Bust Three in Stolen Merchandise Scheme at Home Depot

After a two-week investigation, Barnstable Police made three arrests Monday in connection to a larceny scheme at Home Depot in Hyannis where two employees and a customer worked together to steal thousands of dollars in property, according to police.

Police raided a storage unit on Warehouse Road, rented by one of the suspects, and found about $4,000 worth of stolen property still in its original boxes, but much more is suspected to have been stolen.

Detective Sgt. John Murphy said the two employees were arrested at their place of work. The employees, Peter Martinez, 40, of Bourne and Kevin Hoppe, 49, of Marstons Mills.

Yarmouth contractor Nicholas Harris, 65, of Flakeyard Rd. who visited the store almost daily, was arrested during a motor vehicle stop on Route 6, Sgt. Murphy said.

The couple worked with Harris on the thefts, which police believe date back to April, in what police call a "larceny scheme" that concluded today when the men were arrested.

During a review of all the transactions via receipts and surveillance video, Harris did make legitimate purchases, however more than 50 incidents of suspected larceny transactions were recorded. 

In several incidents, Harris would only pay a fraction for the items that passed through the employees hands at the checkout. In others, the employees would refund Harris for purchases even though items were never returned.

On Feb. 28, Martinez refunded Harris $742.69 for a tile saw that was never returned and he also left the store with two Dyson vacuums he never paid for.

On March 3, Harris walked through the checkout with two Weber grills valued at more than $600 each and paid for two packages of batteries. 

After the the March 3 transaction, Barnstable detectives followed Harris to the storage unit on Warehouse Road.

Two days later, detectives watched Harris and Martinez load one of the stolen grills into Martinez's pickup.

All three men are being charged with larceny of more than $250 pursuant single scheme and conspiracy to commit larceny.

The investigation is ongoing.