Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Asraf Mohamed was charged with grand larceny and possession of stolen property for allegedly stealing 1,838 pairs of work boots and sneakers through a program meant to provide free safety footwear to new employees of Amazon, where he worked. Mohamed allegedly created accounts in the names of new employees without their knowledge and obtained the shoes, later reselling them online.

District Attorney Katz said: “As alleged, this defendant took advantage of his position at Amazon to gather information on fellow workers, compromising their safety to line his own pockets to the tune of $224,000. Retail theft, whether against mom-and-pop shops or large corporations, hurts all consumers as it causes prices to rise. I thank the prosecutors of my dedicated Frauds Bureau and our law enforcement partners for their work on this long-term investigation.”

Asraf Mohamed, 33, of Forbell Street in Brooklyn, was arraigned last night on a criminal complaint charging him with grand larceny in the second degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree. Queens Criminal Court Judge Jerry Iannece ordered him to return to court September 16. If convicted of the top count, he faces a maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison.

District Attorney Katz said that, according to the charges and investigation, Mohamed worked at an Amazon facility on Grand Avenue in Maspeth from July 2020 to September 2023, when he was terminated. In his role, he was responsible for training new drivers and had access to a national database of new employees.

Between November 12, 2022, and June 9, 2023, Mohamed allegedly created 1,838 unique accounts with Zappos.com, an Amazon subsidiary, using the information of new employees through an Amazon program called Zappos at Work. The program was designed to provide workers with a free pair of work boots or sneakers to be worn on the job.

A total of 79 shoe orders were delivered to Mohamed’s residential address and another 1,759 orders were delivered to his brother’s address in Queens. The footwear brands included Timberland, Dr. Martens, Wolverine, Carhartt, New Balance and Brooks.

Mohamed allegedly sold the shoes, which had a total retail value of $224,834, on eBay.

He was arrested Tuesday morning outside his home.

The investigation was conducted by NYPD Financial Crimes Task Force Detective Michael McCaffrey and Sergeant Rashawn Vaughn, under the supervision of Captain Rennae Francis, Commanding Officer of the Financial Crimes Task Force, under the overall supervision of Deputy Chief John Mastronardi, Commanding Officer of the Crimes Against Persons Unit and Assistant Chief Jason Savino, as well as members of U.S. Homeland Security Investigations New York – Financial Group III, the Nassau County Sheriff’s Department and the Port Authority Police Department.

Assistant District Attorney Dimitris Gizas of the District Attorney’s Frauds Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Hana Kim, Acting Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Gerard Brave.