CHARLOTTE — Two painters are facing federal charges after investigators say they made fraudulent returns to Charlotte area Home Depots.
Darwin Alberto Corea Calderon and Francis Gissel Moreno Lopez made their first appearance in federal court Wednesday. Feds say between 2022 and 2025, Calderon and Lopez received hundreds of thousands of dollars in refunds from The Home Depot for products they grabbed off shelves minutes earlier without purchasing.
According to the indictment, Calderon and Lopez operated Correa Painting, LLC. The company had a “Pro Account” at Home Depot. The program allows companies to track spending and receive discounts. In the indictment, feds say the two would legitimately purchase products from Home Depot under the Correa Painting account with a debit card in the company’s name.
The indictment says after purchasing the products, the two would return to a different Home Depot a couple of days later without the purchased products. The indictment says Calderon would typically bring an empty cart into the store and load it with some of the exact same products he purchased on other occasions. Lopez is then accused of entering the store, getting the cart and then proceeding to the return desk.
The indictment says the two used the history of previous purchases in the Home Depot tracking system to trick employees into providing refunds.
Feds say the two conducted their fraudulent refund scheme at the Home Depots in Charlotte, Cornelius, Gastonia, Kannapolis, Matthews, Statesville, Rock Hill, and Spartanburg.
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