A Georgia woman is facing up to 75 years in prison after pleading no contest to racketeering and fraud charges tied to a multistate scheme that cheated TJX Companies stores out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Santina Green, also known as Santina Hill, of Decatur, Georgia, entered an open plea of no contest to racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering and fraud charges in connection with her role in the scheme. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the conviction.
Recommended Videos
“This conviction holds a fraudster accountable for leading a sophisticated racketeering scheme that stole hundreds of thousands of dollars across multiple states,” Uthmeier said.
“Thanks to FDLE and our statewide prosecutors, this organized fraud ring has been stopped. We will continue our fight against retail fraud to protect Florida businesses and keep prices down for families.”
How scheme worked
The scheme targeted TJX Companies stores — including TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods — defrauding them of more than $50,000 in Florida and up to $300,000 overall through repeated fraudulent refunds.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s investigation focused on fraudulent receipted returns of high-value area rugs, priced between $400 and $1,000, at TJX stores from November 2020 through May 2021.
According to prosecutors, the group purchased expensive rugs at TJX “combo” stores using debit cards, then immediately returned them, keeping the receipt. They then used the same receipt — or a duplicate — at other TJX locations to return cheaper, non-TJX rugs that had been marked with forged price coding to mimic genuine products.
The scheme exploited a lag in data reconciliation between different types of TJX store locations, allowing the group to collect multiple refunds on a single receipt before the transactions were flagged nationally. Nine debit cards linked to the subjects were identified in 84 fraudulent Florida transactions.
Witnesses called from multiple states
Green’s plea came during her trial as Statewide Prosecutors called witnesses from England, Massachusetts, Virginia, Pasco County, Sarasota County and Miami-Dade County.
Investigators identified Green as the primary suspect using government-issued IDs, multiple aliases, store surveillance video, return data and bank records. The activity continued into April 2021.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 3, 2026.