Bayville man charged in Home Depot return scam

Police said a Bayville man who used the self-checkout line and the return counter at local Home Depot stores to steal more than $200,000 in merchandise got caught because he went to the well once too often.

Bruce Oxer, 56, of Perry Avenue, was arrested Wednesday at 1 p.m. and charged with two counts of second-degree grand larceny, first-degree falsifying of business records and first-degree defraud.

Nassau County police said a Home Depot fraud investigator identified "a pattern of fraudulent returns" perpetrated by Oxer over two years - and said Crimes Against Property Squad detectives made the arrest.

Thursday, police also arrested his sister, Barbara Oxer, 46, of Perry Avenue, Bayville, in connection with the same larcenies. She is charged with second-degree grand larceny, first-degree falsifying business records and first-degree defraud.

The larcenies began in September 2008, police said. During the next two years, police said Bruce Oxer made purchases at the self-checkout registers at a Home Depot branch in Jericho and others - and also stole merchandise by not scanning it at the registers.

Later, police said, he returned items in sealed boxes. When later opened, those boxes were found to contain unrelated items that were of lesser value, police said.

Bruce Oxer was scheduled for arraignment Thursday in First District Court in Hempstead. Barbara Oxer will be arraigned Friday in the same court.