Investigators followed the money – hundreds of thousands of dollars – to snare a local family accused of working together to peddle stolen merchandise over eBay and Amazon.
A yearlong probe triggered the arrest of a nearly 16-year veteran of the Wichita Falls Police Department – a retired cop, along with three members of his family.
A fifth family member is named in arrest warrant affidavits but has not appeared on the Wichita County Jail roster.
The patriarch, Scott Bradley Higgins, 54, and his son, Spencer Alan Higgins, 20, both of Wichita Falls, have been charged with organized retail theft over $300,000 and money laundering over $300,000.
Father and son were free Friday from Wichita County Jail on $50,000 bail each.
Scott’s wife, Angelique “Angie” Renee Higgins, 50, of Wichita Falls, and his stepdaughter, Sydney Leanne Stockton, 30, of Iowa Park, were also free from jail Friday, each on a $25,000 bail.
Both women were charged with organized retail theft over $300,000.
Arrest documents portray a wide-ranging family effort spearheaded by Scott. He deployed drug addicts to go on runs to steal items from a list he provided, enlisting family members to sell them online.
Numerous money trails
Arrest warrant affidavits pulled back the curtain the investigation:
To pin down family members’ roles in the crime ring, a Wichita County District Attorney’s investigator reviewed dozens of banking records.
Documents from First National Bank in Wichita Falls revealed many money trails branching off to and from family members.
The DA’s investigator found accounts in the name of Scott, Angelique and Spencer at First National Bank.
A joint account of Angelique and Scott showed total deposits of $217,512 and withdrawals of $252,729.
Meanwhile, about $89,175 in legitimate money was deposited into the account from January 2017 to April 2018.
Scott is drawing Social Security Disability after suffering a back injury and also has retirement income from his employment with the city.
About $40,000 was deposited from PayPal accounts in the names of Scott and his son, Spencer, from Jan. 9, 2017 through March 23, 2018.
Scott wrote checks to Spencer with memos such as “Amazon” and “eBay” to cover fees from sales on those sites.
The father also wrote checks to his step-daughter, Sydney Stockton, to cover fees for her eBay sales.
Another account solely under Scott’s name showed total deposits of $107,450 – mostly from 29 PayPal deposits from his stepdaughter – from April 2017 to April 2018.
Six accounts – half a million
The DA’s investigator followed the labyrinthine trail of accounts, deposits and dollars adding up to hundreds of thousands in sales from stolen goods.
For instance, Scott, Angelique, Spencer, Sydney and another family member deposited $527,712 and withdrew $555,286 from six accounts at First National Bank.
Meanwhile during the same period, sales on eBay and Amazon generated $269,455 in deposits.
None of the family members deposited a paycheck, IRS refund or legitimate income of any sort into those accounts during the same time period.
Cracking the case
The DA’s investigator and a special agent with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Investigation Division teamed up to probe Scott Higgins’ activities.
They became aware of a scheme the medically retired ex-cop was involved in to illegally make thousands of dollars.
Before it was all over, public and private resources flowed into snagging the crime ring, and several agencies including the Secret Service lent a hand.
A series of interviews, undercover stings, two anonymous “cooperating individuals” and jailhouse telephone calls revealed the former policeman as a kingpin in organized crime activities.
Scott bought pricey vacuum cleaners, power tools and other items for one-third to one-half the retail price from local drug addicts – known to both the investigator and the DPS special investigator through narcotics investigations.
The addicts stole the goods from retailers such as Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Lowe’s.
Agencies such as the WFPD were involved, for instance, through key information provided by a detective.
Target reacts
On Aug. 2, 2017, a Target regional loss prevention officer told the WFPD detective that suspects living in the Wichita Falls area had committed numerous thefts at Targets in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
On July 30, 2017, Target loss prevention officers had caught two men trying to swipe two Dyson vacuum cleaners, with a total value of $1,199.98, at a Fort Worth store.
One of the suspects had a counterfeit receipt for two Dyson vacuum cleaners, as well as a magnetic key to unlock anti-theft devices inside the Target when he was apprehended.
While awaiting police, the suspect said Scott gave him a list of items to steal, and he would fulfill the request with the help of others.
He would sell the items to Scott, who in turn peddled them on eBay and Amazon.
In fact, the suspect said the former officer had many people stealing items from stores for him.
Two other men told officers similar stories about Scott.
Jailhouse telephone calls showed at least two of the men turned to him for help getting out.
While in Wichita County Jail, the suspect caught at a Target in Fort Worth called Scott on Sept. 17, 2017, asking for a loan and help bonding out of jail.
Scott told the man he’d see what he could do, but the man was getting “deeper and deeper in this hole."
By Jan. 31, 2018, Scott Higgins would be holding the man’s Harley Davidson motorcycle as collateral, and the man would owe him $5,300.
The illegal haul
A printout provided by Target loss prevention showed that from June 26, 2017, to July 30, 2017, three suspects carried out thefts of $10,611 in merchandise from Target stores in Denton, Watauga, Lake Worth, Wichita Falls, Fort Worth, Hurst and Grand Prairie.
A Jan. 31, 2018, search of a pickup parked in the driveway of a Burkburnett turned up the tools to create counterfeit receipts, including a laptop computer, printer/scanner, bar code reader, Home Depot receipts for inexpensive items and rolls of receipt tape.
The search by the Drug Enforcement Division of the Wichita County DA’s Office also turned up a $250 check dated Jan. 29, 2018, from the account of Scott or Angie Higgins.
Unaware of the probe, officers contacted Higgins about the check. He told them he’d bought tools.
On April 3, 2018, one of the suspects told investigators he first met Scott Higgins in a Walmart parking lot Rhome, and he was pulling a 25-foot trailer full of vacuum cleaners, hot water heaters and many other items.
On April 10, 2018, an investigator viewed a huge amount of “new in the box” retail merchandise in Scott Higgins' open garage.
The investigators carried out undercover sting operations on Scott Higgins with the help of anonymous “cooperating individuals.”