Delaware Superior Court imposed $6.79 million in civil penalties against a Middletown pawn shop and its owners for hiring others to steal merchandise from area retailers and selling it in 2016.
In August 2016, the owner of Gold Fever Pawn Shop in Middletown, Shaun Reilly, his wife, Kisha Reilly and mother, Denise Toy, were indicted on multiple charges including racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering and organized retail theft, Department of Justice said.
The department alleged the the months-long investigation, dubbed “Operation Golden Eye,” began in January 2015 when they enlisted shoplifters to steal items from area retailers, storing the stolen merchandise at Toy’s home and selling the stolen merchandise at the pawnshop and online. A New Castle County grand jury also indicted 23 people related to the case.
After pleading to various criminal charges tied to the scheme in early 2017, officials pursued civil penalties against Reillys and Toy under the Delaware Organized Crime and Racketeering Act, Department of Justice said.
The Court’s judgment imposed penalties on April 22 of $350,000 against Shaun, $40,000 against Toy and $6.4 million against Gold Fever, LLC and Gold Fever Finance, LLC. The judgment further ordered the residence to be seized in connected with the underlying criminal conduct, the department said… Delaware Online