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Hickory Business Owner Gets Federal Prison Time In Fraud Case

By

James Christopher Robinson

52-year-old James Christopher Robinson of Granite Falls was sentenced Tuesday (July 23) to 30 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for tax and credit card fraud. The announcement was made by Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Robinson was also ordered to pay $4,434,225.44 in restitution.

According to filed documents and the sentencing hearing, Robinson was the owner of multiple cabinet manufacturing and retail businesses in the Hickory area, including Cabinet Solutions USA Inc., Best Cabinet Doors, LLC, Cabinet Doors Fast, LLC, and Cox Manufacturing, LLC (collectively, Cabinet Companies). Court documents show that, between March 2020 and April 2023, Robinson accessed the credit cards of Cabinet Companies’ customers and without authorization made 294 fraudulent credit card charges totaling approximately $1 million.

Robinson also created at least four counterfeit checks totaling more than $93,000, using information from actual checks written to his Cabinet Companies by customers. According to court records, for tax years 2017 to 2022, Robinson caused two of his companies to fail to comply with their employment tax obligations by failing to timely account for and pay over more than $3.1 million in employment taxes.

Court documents indicate that Robinson used the stolen funds to make large cash withdrawals from his business accounts and make hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash deposits at casinos. On January 17, 2024,Robinson pleaded guilty to access device fraud and failure to truthfully account for and pay over trust fund taxes. He is released on bond and will be ordered to report to the federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence upon designation of a federal facility.

In making the announcement, U.S. Attorney King thanked the FBI, the Secret Service, and IRC-CI for their investigation of the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Caryn Finley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.