Taunton woman pleads guilty to using fake coupons to steal thousands of discounts from grocery stores

A Taunton woman pleaded guilty Thursday to participating in a counterfeit coupon scheme to steal nearly $27,000 in discount groceries from “numerous” Stop and Shop grocery stores in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, prosecutors said.

Jacqueline White, 42, pleaded guilty in Plymouth Superior Court in Brockton to one count of theft by false pretense in a single scheme, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Kruse’s office said in a statement.

She was sentenced to two and a half years in prison with a three-year suspended sentence, the district attorney’s office said.

Prosecutors said White and a co-defendant, identified as Crystal Travis, were charged following an investigation by the Hingham and Abington police departments that allegedly used counterfeit coupons at several Stop and Shop grocery stores between March 10 and June 2, 2023. year The Florida-based nonprofit Coupon Information Center assisted police in the investigation, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said that in June in Plymouth Superior Court, Travis was remanded in custody without a finding.

The pair allegedly used the coupons to steal $26,547 in discounts on hundreds of products, prosecutors said. In addition, White and Travis were alleged to have “operated an elaborate scheme using social networking sites and applications such as Facebook and Dropbox” to purchase counterfeit coupons, the district attorney’s office said.

Authorities said the grocery stores where White and Travis allegedly used the fake coupons were in Queens, Weymouth, Raynham, Plainville, Whitman, Abington, Pembroke, Norwell, Hingham, North Dartmouth, New Bedford, Sandwich and Brockton, as well as in East Providence. and Pawtucket in Rhode Island.

White’s attorney could not be reached for comment. Travis’ attorney, Michael Sheehan of Brockton, declined to comment.

Nick Stoico can be reached at [email protected].