GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A group from South America got jobs locally as third-party delivery drivers for Amazon, but did not make the deliveries, instead collecting paychecks and keeping some of the merchandise for themselves, according to police and court records.
Arrests started March 20 and continued Friday, the culmination of an investigation by the Kent County Sheriff’s Office that led detectives to hotel rooms, warehouses and a fleet of cars, court records show.
Operating from hotels along 28th Street SE, crew members used out-of-state vehicles and fake IDs as part of the ruse. They made off with merchandise from Amazon warehouses, which they did not deliver, according to police reports and court documents.
Stolen diesel fuel was resold in parking lots, investigators say
Investigators seized 11 vehicles, 28 cellphones, nearly $14,000 in cash and more than 30 Amazon packages, according to court records…