Three men have been indicted in Geauga County on charges connected to an alleged scheme that netted more than $68,000 in stolen merchandise from Home Depot stores across four Northeast Ohio counties, according to prosecutors. Terry Foster, Robert West and Todd Hercules are accused of posing as contractors picking up prepaid orders to carry out dozens of thefts between June and September.
According to Cleveland.com, Foster and West are from Cleveland while Hercules is from Strongsville. The Geauga County indictments specifically cover 15 thefts totaling nearly $20,000 at Home Depot locations in Bainbridge Township and Chardon, though prosecutors say the three men participated in 50 thefts spanning four counties altogether.
How the Scheme Allegedly Worked
Bainbridge Township police began working with Home Depot loss prevention staff in September to identify the men, per the Geauga County Prosecutor's Office. Chardon police also assisted with the investigation, which focused on the Bainbridge Township store at 18800 North Market Place Drive and the Chardon store at 287 Meadowlands Drive, both located in Geauga County retail corridors.
Geauga County's charges cover thefts that allegedly occurred between June 22 and September 9. Beyond the Geauga County losses, prosecutors' loss reports list 22 thefts in Summit County, nine in Medina County and four in Portage County, with combined losses across all four counties totaling $68,593.53. The Geauga County indictments, however, cover only the alleged thefts that occurred within that county.
Charges and Potential Penalties
Foster faces 15 counts of grand theft, while West faces 13 counts of grand theft, and both also face a charge of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity under Ohio's racketeering law, according to their indictments, which note that both had a felony theft conviction or guilty plea within the previous three years. Hercules faces four counts of theft, a lesser charge than what his co-defendants face.
The grand theft charges against Foster and West are fourth-degree felonies. Under Ohio Revised Code 2913.02, grand theft involving stolen property valued between $7,500 and $150,000 carries potential penalties of six to 18 months in prison and fines up to $5,000, according to The Botnick Law Firm. Hercules' theft charges are fifth-degree felonies, the lowest felony tier under Ohio law, which McNamee Law, LLC notes applies to property valued between $1,000 and $7,500 and carries a potential sentence of six to 12 months in prison and fines up to $2,500.
The racketeering charges against Foster and West are second-degree felonies. Per Zukerman Law, a conviction under Ohio Revised Code 2923.32 for engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity as a second-degree felony carries a prison term of two to eight years, along with fines up to $15,000 or up to three times the greater of the gross value gained or the gross loss caused.
Prosecutor Points to Statewide Trend
Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz said organized retail theft is a serious problem both locally and nationwide, and that recent changes in the law have given prosecutors more tools to combat it, the article notes. Geauga County Common Pleas Court has handled individual cases involving Ohio's corrupt activity statute, as well as an unrelated case involving a Kirtland man facing child sex image charges.
Arrest warrants have been issued for all three men, prosecutors said, and Foster, West and Hercules will be arraigned in Geauga County Common Pleas Court after they are taken into custody. It remains an open question whether prosecutors in Summit, Medina and Portage counties will file their own charges over the thefts reported in those jurisdictions, or whether the Geauga County case will stand as the primary prosecution for the broader scheme.
Part of a Broader National Pattern
The Geauga County case fits into a wider pattern of organized retail crime targeting Home Depot locations around the country. A July 2026 study by the National Retail Federation found that while overall shoplifting incidents fell 12.4% nationwide between 2024 and 2025, organized external theft schemes and retail fraud continued to expand. Organized retail crime resulted in an estimated $9 billion in merchandise losses for U.S. retailers in 2025, contributing to total industry inventory shrinkage exceeding $112 billion nationwide, according to Safe and Sound Security.
Similar law enforcement actions have targeted Home Depot thefts elsewhere this year. In July, Hoodline reported that law enforcement in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, arrested five individuals on 97 charges in a case involving thefts at a Jacksonville Beach Home Depot. Hoodline also covered an October case in which NYPD sought three suspects tied to a Bed-Stuy Home Depot theft.
