A 58-year-old Gaston County man has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for running a multi-million dollar fencing operation out of an unmarked storefront on Wilkinson Boulevard in Charlotte, where stolen and fraudulently obtained health and beauty products were dropped off, processed, and shipped out to online buyers across the country and overseas.
Ronald Dale Lynn operated the scheme from 2019 to 2025, according to filed documents cited by Queen City News. Prosecutors say Lynn acted as a fence, someone who knowingly buys stolen or fraudulently obtained goods from thieves and resells them for a profit. In this case, the individuals supplying Lynn were known as boosters, described in court documents as people who steal or fraudulently obtain retail merchandise before selling it to a fence.
The Wilkinson Boulevard location had no signage and was not open to the public, functioning instead primarily as a drop-off and processing point for stolen merchandise, per the same report. From there, Lynn allegedly resold new or near-new health and beauty products, including proprietary items sold exclusively by national retail brands, through eBay, Amazon, and Walmart Marketplace, pricing the goods well below what legitimate retailers charge.
Secret Service Seized Over $414,000 in Merchandise
The U.S. Secret Service executed a search warrant on Lynn’s storefront and other locations in January 2025, seizing stolen or fraudulently obtained merchandise valued at approximately $414,056. Investigators ultimately determined that Lynn’s scheme caused total losses between $1.5 million and $3.5 million…