New York Home Depot theft ringleader, who smuggling goods to Guyana, jailed

Last Updated on Wednesday, 24 December 2025, 14:41 by Writer

A Long Island man was on Tuesday sentenced to up to four years in prison for a retail theft operation he ran while employing individuals to steal merchandise from several Home Depot stores and shipping them to Guyana, Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said.

Manooj Heeralall, 54, pleaded guilty on August 8, 2025, before Judge Howard Sturim to grand larceny in the third degree. He stole the items from The Home Depot stores in Nassau County, Suffolk County, Queens and Brooklyn between October 2021 and December 2023.

The defendant was sentenced on Tuesday to 1-1/3 to four years in prison. The defendant also forfeited assets including a 2004 Nissan vehicle, items seized as a result of an executed search warrant at his home, and $2,640 in cash.

“Retail theft rings like the one run by this defendant strike at the heart of our local economy, targeting both large corporations and small businesses. This defendant orchestrated a criminal operation that sent crews into dozens of The Home Depot locations to steal a variety of construction and electrical materials, then stockpiled and shipped the stolen goods overseas for profit,” said DA Donnelly in a statement. “Thanks to the work of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners, his illegal enterprise was upended, and he is headed behind bars. We will continue to work with all our partners, in law enforcement and retail, to pursue organized theft rings that undermine honest businesses.”

District Attorney Donnelly said that, according to the investigation, between March and December 2023, the defendant employed individuals to steal items like circuit breakers, light switches, and other equipment from dozens of The Home Depot locations in Nassau County, including Freeport, Levittown, Syosset, and Westbury, as well as stores located in Suffolk County, Queens and Brooklyn.

Heeralall would meet the individuals later to pick up the stolen merchandise and provide payment.

The defendant then stored the merchandise in his home and garage and eventually shipped the stolen goods to Guyana for resale.

Search warrants executed on Heeralall’s home on December 7, 2023, seized nearly 1,000 circuit breakers, valued at $15,025, from inside the home and hundreds of pieces of equipment, including circular saw blades, outlets, and more circuit breakers from inside the defendant’s garage.

Four garbage bins were also found in the garage, containing $9,576 worth of acrylic roof coating, rock spotlights, oscillating blades for grout, and light switch wall plates.

The total value of the items seized was approximately $37,151.

NCDA thanks The Home Depot Investigations Organized Retail Crime Northern Division for its cooperation and assistance in this investigation.

Heeralall was arrested on December 7, 2023, by members of the Nassau County Police Department’s District Attorney Squad.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Justin Santabarbara of the Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau under the supervision of Bureau Chief Jeremy Glicksman and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Investigations Division Rick Whelan. The defendant is represented by Raymond Baierlein, Esq.