JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The man Jacksonville Sheriff's Office detectives have labeled as the ringleader of an organized theft ring they said is responsible for $500,000 in stolen merchandise has been on law enforcement's radar before.
Antoun Arbaji is one of eight people facing dozens of criminal charges stemming from a two-year JSO investigation called “Operation Loot and Scoot.”
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Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams identified Arbaji as the leader of a group of shoplifters who investigators said were responsible for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from major store chains.
RELATED: Jacksonville police: 8 facing 182 counts in organized theft ring
News4Jax has been checking court records and discovered Arbaji is no stranger to being under state and federal investigation for similar charges.
In May 2013, Arbaji was one of five people arrested for involvement in an organized theft ring that was based out of Green Cove Springs. The investigation in that case began in 2011.
The following year, Arbaji pleaded guilty to theft of government property and was sentenced to 24 months in prison.
According to court documents, Arbaji owned and operated a Fina Express Store in Green Cove Springs. One of the other four co-defendants in the 2013 case, identified as Abass Issa, also owned a store.
Beginning in 2011, Issa began obtaining known fraudulent IRS refund checks from a source in Tampa, authorities said. The checks were either in the form of United States Treasury checks or tax refund anticipation loans. Many of the refund checks were issued in the names of deceased individuals, though some were issued in the names of living taxpayers. Over 200 stolen identities were involved in the scheme.
After Issa obtained the checks in bulk from his source in Tampa, he then located individuals, like Arbaji, to cash the checks in exchange for a fee, investigators said. All proceeds were given to Issa, who kept a portion, and then returned the remainder to his Tampa source.
During 2011, Issa and Arbaji used Arbaji’s bank account to cash $1,512,607 in fraudulent United States Treasury checks and $406,795 in fraudulent refund anticipation loans. Prior to indictment, the United States seized $352,584 from Arbaji’s bank account.
He was ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution.
Arbaji's two-year sentence began in August 2015 and was followed by two years of probation, so he was still on probation while investigators were looking into his role in the Jacksonville crime ring.
Less than four years after he was sentenced in connection with the Clay County ring, Arbaji was again charged, this time as the ringleader.
Arbaji and others involved in what investigators dubbed "Operation Loot and Scoot" are facing racketeering and other felony charges.