Gaston County “Fence” Sentenced for Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Ronald Dale Lynn, 58, formerly of Gaston County, was sentenced to 30 months in prison today for interstate transportation of stolen property, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Lynn was also ordered to serve two years of supervised release.

According to filed documents, from 2019 to 2025, Lynn operated a fencing scheme in which he purchased stolen and fraudulently obtained retail merchandise and resold it for a profit through online marketplaces, including eBay, Amazon, and Walmart Marketplace, to customers in the United States and abroad.

In the retail theft scheme, Lynn operated as a "fence," a person who knowingly receives stolen or fraudulently obtained goods from "boosters" for resale at a profit. Boosters are individuals who steal or fraudulently obtain retail merchandise and sell it to a fence.

Lynn operated his fencing scheme, in part, from a physical storefront in a commercial strip mall on Wilkinson Boulevard in Charlotte. The storefront had no signage and was not open to the public. Instead, it served primarily as a drop-off and processing location for stolen merchandise. Court records show that much of the merchandise Lynn sold online consisted of new or near-new health and beauty products, including proprietary beauty products sold exclusively by national retail brands. The products were sold at prices significantly below those charged by legitimate retailers.

In January 2025, the U.S. Secret Service executed a search warrant on Lynn's storefront and other locations, seizing stolen or fraudulently obtained merchandise with an estimated value of approximately $414,056. The total losses attributable to Lynn as part of the fencing scheme are between $1.5 and $3.5 million.

In making today's announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson thanked the U.S. Secret Service for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Caryn Finley of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.