A judge sent a Bellevue store owner to federal prison on Tuesday for wire fraud and money laundering in reselling stolen goods that drug addicts shoplifted from other nearby stores.
U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak gave Thach Duc Le 19 months behind bars and an $8,000 fine.
Le, 37, who has homes in Washington County and Florida, had pleaded guilty in November after being indicted in 2020.
As the co-owner of Last Call Entertainment, Le sold second-hand electronics. But on the side, he earned up to $400,000 in the stolen-goods scheme. Three other people are co-owners of the store, but none were charged.
From 2013 to 2016, Le and his employees accepted stolen items from drug addicts who walked in with the goods still in the original packages. Le paid them a few bucks and then sold the items on Amazon through an account called “fastshipelectronicsoutlet.”
Online customers bought his stuff, Le shipped it out, and Amazon wired money to his Citizens Bank account.
Assistant U.S. Attorney James Wilson said Le deserves prison because of the “pernicious” harm he did to the Bellevue community by both damaging his fellow merchants and “callously” encouraging addicts to keep stealing to fund their drug abuse.
Wilson said the government isn’t arguing that Le committed the “crime of the century,” but he said Le’s actions constitute a real crime that hurt people “struggling just to make it through each day.”
Le’s lawyer, Douglas Sughrue, wanted probation and a fine. He said his client knows he did wrong but should remain free to provide for his family.
Hornak sided with the government, noting that Le knew he was buying stolen goods from addicts who ripped off other Bellevue businesses and capitalized on their plight to make a “mountain of money.”
After the prison term, he ordered that Le be on probation for three years.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
