Peebles Woman Pleads Guilty in $266,699 Home Depot Fraud Scheme

Tracy A. James of Peebles pleaded guilty last month to a yearslong, multi-state retail fraud scheme that generated $266,699 in fraudulent Home Depot store credit, earning her a sentence that includes 180 days in the Medina County Jail and five years of community control supervision.

The Medina Township Police Department, working with Home Depot Organized Retail Crime investigators and the Medina County Prosecutor's Office, identified James as the architect of a scheme involving counterfeit driver's licenses and aliases to make fraudulent merchandise returns at numerous Home Depot locations, including stores in Kentucky and Clermont County, Ohio. According to the Medina Township Police Department, James accumulated more than 1,700 fraudulent returns over several years. She then used the fake store credit to purchase merchandise that she later resold online.

The case was presented to the Medina County Prosecutor's Office, which indicted James on one count of telecommunications fraud, a second-degree felony. On Feb. 27, 2026, she pleaded guilty in the Medina County Court of Common Pleas. In addition to the 180-day jail term and five years of community control supervision, the court sentenced James to 100 hours of community service and ordered her to pay $266,699 in restitution to Home Depot.

A co-defendant in the case, April Mathis, also of Peebles, turned herself in on March 5, 2026. Mathis was released on her own recognizance and placed on house arrest. Her jury trial is scheduled for June 1, 2026 in Medina County.

The two Peebles women represent an unusual tie between Adams County and a fraud investigation centered in Medina Township, roughly 150 miles to the northeast. Peebles, the Adams County village where both defendants live, sits in southwest Ohio, far removed from the Medina County courtroom where James's fate was decided and where Mathis will face a jury this summer.