News and Investigations

On Thursday, January 17, 2019, detectives from the Polk County Sheriff's Office set out to arrest and charge eight people working together in an intricate scheme that cost two companies from Lakeland and Clearwater a total of $104,798.65. 

Two of the eight suspects were already in the Broward County Jail, and four were captured in Duval County. Two are still being sought.

The ringleader of the group, Bobby Staley, conducted the operation from Liberty Correctional Institute in Liberty County. Other members of the group worked out of Jacksonville, Tampa, and Fort Lauderdale. 

“Bobby Staley has a shockingly long criminal career—he’s an unrepentant thief and con man. He steals from others’ hard work. He cannot be trusted outside of jail or prison and now we have clear evidence he can’t be trusted in prison. With the charges he’s racked up this time, It looks like he’s earned another long stretch in state custody. Let’s hope going forward, he’s also earned close scrutiny from state prison officials so he can’t continue to victimize innocent people while he’s locked up.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff

The Sheriff’s Office first became aware of the scheme on November 20, 2017, when Tapia Construction of Lakeland reported fraudulent activity on their Home Depot business account. The company reported that unlawful transactions of merchandise and gift cards totaling $45,388.81 were made in multiple cities across the state, starting in June of 2017.

Tapia Construction’s Lowe’s account was hit by the group in 2018, stealing an additional $47,434.76.

During the investigation, detectives notified Yarbrough Electric, Inc. of Clearwater that the group was possibly accessing the company’s business accounts. In one day, Yarborough Electric had $11,975.08 charged to their account in two different cities.
Another Clearwater company, Fast of Florida, had $1,618.76 charged to their account as well, but the transaction was stopped promptly.  

The nationwide companies that were affected include: Home Depot, Lowe’s, Citibank, and Synchrony Bank. 

The suspects used aliases and fake driver licenses to purchase 557 gift cards (Visa, MasterCard, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and others) and merchandise.

Due to the scale of this operation throughout Florida, The Office of Statewide Prosecution is also involved.

“The ringleader of this complex organized crime scheme that spanned six judicial circuits in Florida orchestrated the fraud from prison—depriving the victims of more than a hundred thousand dollars. Through great investigative work by Sheriff Grady Judd, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and my Office of Statewide Prosecution, the scheme has been shut down.” – Ashley Moody, Florida Attorney General.

Bobby Staley and Curtis Harris are currently in the Broward County Jail. Thursday morning, Coaxum, Robinson, Williams, and Cyrus were taken into custody in Duvall County. Theogene and Adriana Staley remain at-large. 

Bobby Staley was sentenced to Florida prison in 2013 for a similar scheme he committed in 2009. Money brought in from this current operation made its way to other prisoners, as well as a corporation (B.A.M.N. Audio, Inc.) set up by suspect Christopher Coaxum, in which Staley was listed as the Chief Financial Officer, while he was in prison. 

Staley made calls to banks from inside prison, telling call takers that he was the owner of the business. He established new mailing addresses in Jacksonville, where 5 of the suspects live. New credit cards were then linked to the victims’ accounts. Staley bragged to witnesses about smuggling cell phones into prison to assist in the scheme. He also recruited his daughter Adriana Staley to take part.

In addition to the purchases of merchandise, gift cards were also purchased, which were then used to purchase personal property, money orders and money wires.

Bobby Staley was released early from the Florida Department of Corrections in October of 2018 for good behavior. He violated his probation a few weeks later, and was arrested again.

The suspects arrested:
Bobby Staley, 42, currently resides in the Broward County Jail. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), and Money Laundering (F3). Staley’s criminal history consists of 102 felony charges and 17 Misdemeanor Charges (plus 16 charges of unknown levels). He has gone to prison 5 times. 

Christopher Coaxum, 34, Jacksonville. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), Money Laundering (F3), Fraudulent Use of Credit Card (F3), and Possession of Stolen Credit Card (F3). Coaxum’s criminal history consists of 4 Felony and 3 Misdemeanor charges (plus 4 charges of unknown levels).

Ken Theogene, 36, Tampa. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), Money Laundering (F3), Fraudulent Use of Credit Card (F3), Possession of Stolen Credit Card (F3), and Grand Theft (F1). Theogene’s criminal history consists of 7 Felony and 4 Misdemeanor charges (plus 5 charges of unknown levels). He has been to prison once before.

Nahshon Williams, 35, Jacksonville. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), Money Laundering (F3), Fraudulent Use of Credit Card (F3), and Possession of Stolen Credit Card (F3). Williams’ criminal history consists of 1 Felony and 1 Misdemeanor charges. 

Leonard Robinson III, 34, Jacksonville. Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), Money Laundering (F3), Fraudulent Use of Credit Card (F3), and Possession of Stolen Credit Card (F3). Robinson’s criminal history consists of 2 Misdemeanor charges. 

Curtis Harris, 28, Fort Lauderdale, but currently in the Broward County Jail. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), Money Laundering (F3), Fraudulent Use of Credit Card (F3), and Possession of Stolen Credit Card (F3). Harris’ criminal history includes 17 Felony and 11 Misdemeanor charges (plus 10 charges of unknown levels). 

Katrina Cyrus, 33, Jacksonville. Charges: Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), and Cheating (F3). Cyrus has no criminal history.

Adriana Staley, 18, Jacksonville. Racketeering Violation (F1), Conspiracy to Violate Racketeering Act (F1), Organized Scheme to Defraud over $50,000 (F1), Scheme to Defraud a Financial Institution (F2), Cheating (F3), and Money Laundering (F3). Staley has no criminal history.