The sheriff's office took the initial call to investigate. Now, federal prosecutors have taken over and are saying for the past three years, Kevin Casper scammed JC Penney almost 1,800 times, but he was finally caught in Houston.
According to prosecutors, Casper just couldn't stay away from JC Penney. He was arrested in August and formally accused this week of stealing more than $220,000 from the store in a receipt scam.
"He's accused of duplicating price tags and he's also accused of duplicating the receipt," explained Joshua Nowitz of the Harris County Sheriff's Office financial crimes unit. "He's done this transaction around somewhere around 1,700 times in the last three years."
It's 1,793 times to be exact, according to a federal indictment. That document also says Casper would then return the fraudulently marked clothing with a duplicated receipt and pocket the difference between what he actually paid and the amount he represented he paid to JC Penney. According to a court exhibit, he mostly returned women's pantsuits valued around $190.
Casper allegedly spread his scam out across 37 states, including Texas.
Consumer experts say it's because of scams like this that make your store returns a little more difficult.
"You're going to see retailers ask for ID. They actually have tracking software now actually track how often do you return a particular item," explained Monica Russo with the Houston Better Business Bureau. "You're going to see him in the consumers banned from returning items and that's already implemented in some stores nowadays."
Consumer expert Paul Ivanofsky said, "Anytime someone tries to game the system, they are going to hurt people who are just trying to do things the right way. It really makes it difficult for a gift receipt, things like that. And Walmart does lax up a little bit around holiday time. You can talk to a manager and be reasonable but the policies have definitely gotten a little bit harder."
As for Casper, if he's convicted, he could spend up to 20 years in prison.