Ex-Walmart worker stole 1,000 iPads, Apple watches, feds say. He’s headed to prison

A former Walmart employee was sentenced to prison after running a scheme to steal thousands of electronics from the company, feds say.

Rusmaldy Jimenez-Hiciano, 38, who now lives in Goose Creek, South Carolina, has been sentenced to spend 3 years and 10 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release, according to a Sept. 27 news release from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania U.S. Attorney’s Office. Jimenez-Hiciano is also required to pay full restitution of $536,000 and to forfeit $461,000.

While working at a Walmart distribution center in 2017 in Bethlehem, PA, Jimenez-Hiciano set up a plan to set aside high-end electronics that entered the warehouse. Then, he’d ship the merchandise to an address he controlled in Allentown and sell the products, court documents say. Jimenez-Hiciano was fired from Walmart in May 2018, but he continued stealing by staying in touch with other employees.

During the scheme, Jimenez-Hiciano, with the help of other employees at the warehouse, stole approximately 1,000 Apple iPads, 942 Apple Series One Watches and 285 Nintendo Switches. In total, the scheme cost Walmart an estimated $2 million, according to court documents.

In June 2022, Jimenez-Hiciano pleaded guilty to four counts of mail fraud.

“Jimenez-Hiciano stole hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of goods from his former employer,” U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said. “Instead of doing the right thing and performing his job honestly, he took advantage of his position and his employer.”

Jimenez-Hiciano is a hard worker and “good person” who gave in to his “worst nature,” his lawyer, Glennis Close, told McClatchy News.

“He had some financial difficulties and issues with his mother was suffering from cancer which caused him to miss working in medical leave,” Close said. “And he made the wrong decision as to what he should do to remedy the problem.”

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