By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Ten people pleaded guilty on Thursday to a scheme to defraud Lowe's, Home Depot and other eastern retailers.
U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway says the ringleaders were Tyrone Moore and Anthony Ivy, of Chicago. They did not plea guilty; their trials are set for next month.
Three of those who pleaded guilty were from the St. Louis area.
Hanaway says Moore and Ivy gave the other participants cash to open checking accounts. They would then transfer money into an account long enough for the group's members to make purchases, then transfer the money out before the retailers tried to cash the checks. The purchased items were then sold.
Hanaway says stores were defrauded of nearly $263,000.