California Man Sentenced for Walmart Thefts

Acting United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Jabaree Mabrey, 27, of California, was sentenced August 29, 2024, in federal court in Lincoln, Nebraska for fraudulent use of an unauthorized access device. Senior United States District Court Judge John M. Gerrard sentenced Mabrey to 64 months' imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After Mabrey's release from prison, he will begin a 3-year term of supervised release. Mabrey was also ordered to pay $690,484 in restitution.

In April of 2023, Mabrey was identified and arrested after a co-defendant, Marlon Tigner had been arrested in Nebraska on state charges. Tigner was previously sentenced to 71 months in prison by Judge Gerrard for the same charges.

In the course of the investigation, it was learned that Walmart's cash registers utilize a master key, apparently universal to all Walmart registers, regardless of location. This key is accessible only to managers and front-end supervisors. At some point, Tigner and Mabrey had come into possession of a master key and has been using that key to steal from Walmart. Documentation gathered during the investigation showed a loss of $690,484 from stores spanning from Washington state to Massachusetts and from Texas to Wisconsin attributable to Tigner and Mabrey over the last few years.

The case was prosecuted in Nebraska after Tigner was contacted on a traffic stop in Lancaster County, identified as a suspect in the nationwide thefts, and master keys were recovered from his person. Further investigation led to the identification of Mabrey as Tigner's accomplice. Law enforcement was also able confirm that the two used the keys to steal from several Omaha Walmart stores.

This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, the Lancaster County Sheriff's Department and numerous other law enforcement partners across the nation.