Attorney General Dave Sunday announced charges against two Delaware County-based FedEx workers who engineered a scheme last year involving thefts of cellphones from shipments that were then pushed to co-conspirators who sold the phones.
The alleged ringleaders — Lahneir McBride and Cahron Wilmore, both 25 — are each charged with felony counts of corrupt organizations, organized retail theft, criminal solicitation, and related offenses.
Seven other individuals who sold the stolen phones on numerous occasions are charged with similar offenses.
All nine defendants are in custody.
According to the Office of Attorney General investigation, McBride and Wilmore stole at least 181 phones — worth approximately $173,000 — and recruited people to sell them at EcoATM stations. Sales of the phones netted the organization $57,000 in profit.
The “sellers” were paid about $200 to $300 for each phone.
“Our Organized Crime Unit continues to disband sophisticated rings that defraud unsuspecting consumers and cause market price increases due to losses sustained by companies,” Attorney General Sunday said. “This criminal enterprise involved thefts of high-priced smartphones and the recruitment of dozens of sellers, who executed the transactions while the two ringleaders watched.”
McBride and Wilmore were hired by FedEx last summer, and soon after, began the theft scheme, which ran from late June through September 2024.
EcoATM machines record sales with documentation and photographs of the sellers, so investigators were able to trace the transactions, which led back to a Linwood warehouse where McBride and Wilmore worked.
The seven charged co-conspirators are: Latoria McBride (Lahneir’s mother), Albert Payne, Lamiyah Young, Janiya Monae Wilmore, Ciani Wilmore, Danasia Jackson, and Lamarr Taylor.
This case will be prosecuted by the Office of Attorney General’s Organized Crime Section. Criminal charges, and any discussion thereof, are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
