ALABAMA MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO THEFT FROM AN INTERSTATE SHIPMENT AND POSSESSION OF GOODS STOLEN FROM AN INTERSTATE SHIPMENT

Draterrius McCollough, age 31, of Greensboro, Alabama, pleaded guilty to theft from an interstate shipment and possession of goods stolen from an interstate shipment before U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson.

According to admissions made as part of his guilty plea, in late 2025 and early 2026, McCollough was working as a driver for a transportation company. His employer contracted with a large international shipping and logistics company that transported goods in interstate and foreign commerce. The international company regularly picked up merchandise from a major American retailer's warehouse located outside Louisiana and delivered it to stores throughout Louisiana. As part of his job duties, McCollough was frequently assigned to pick up large shipments of merchandise from a distribution hub in Baton Rouge and transport them to a store in Gonzales, Louisiana.

In January 2026, the retailer's fraud investigations team noticed a significant increase in items that were shipped to the Gonzales store but later went missing. The retailer launched an investigation and eventually reached out to detectives in the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office's Larceny Division for assistance. After additional investigation, in early February, law enforcement officers obtained a search warrant for an apartment that McCollough was leasing in Baton Rouge. Inside, officers found more than a hundred items that had been stolen from shipments to the Gonzales store, including numerous Apple iPhones and iPads, approximately 50 pairs of wireless headphones, and numerous other electronics accessories. Officers also found evidence confirming that, days earlier, McCollough had stolen a brand-new Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max from a shipment that originated in Texas and was intended to be delivered to a store in Prairieville. In all, he possessed more than 200 stolen items having an estimated retail value of more than $30,000.

U.S. Attorney Kurt L. Wall praised the work of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan A. Stevens, who serves as Senior Litigation Counsel for the Criminal Division, leads the prosecution.