DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors say an Iowa man who ran a bar code theft ring in several states has been sentenced to serve 70 years in federal prison.
Bradley Prucha was sentenced Thursday June 23, 2016. He’d been convicted of conspiracy, mail fraud, production and possession of child pornography and other crimes.
Prosecutors say Prucha printed bar code stickers and placed them on store items that would ring up at lower prices. He then had accomplices return them for refunds on their full prices or sold them online. Prosecutors say the West Des Moines resident ran the scheme in Iowa, Florida, Nebraska and other states. He’d previously been convicted of a similar scheme in Florida.
Prosecutors also said Prucha recruited teenage girls for the scam and paid them for sex at sessions that he recorded without their knowledge.
