Police in Burleson (Texas) find gift cards worth $1.7 million in hotel room

BURLESON, Texas — Investigators discovered more than $1.7 million worth of gift cards in a North Texas hotel room while arresting two suspects, police said.

The case began on June 27 when Burleson police officers received a tip about a fraud case at Home Depot stores in the area, according to a police news release.

When officers found the suspects’ vehicle, they were leaving a Target store in the 200 block of Northwest John Jones Drive, next to a home improvement store. Police stopped the men for a traffic violation and found “a large number of gift cards in plain sight” — more than 1,000 gift cards in total, the news release said.

Police said the cards were “neatly packaged and arranged in bundles and boxes.”

Officers arrested the two suspects and continued to investigate the case. The investigation eventually led police to a Carrollton hotel that was connected to the suspects, police said. When officers obtained a search warrant for the Carrollton hotel room, they found 4,017 gift cards with an estimated value of $1,720,050.

The suspects, whose names have not been released, are accused of theft of property valued at more than $300,000 and fraud.

Police described the suspects as part of a “sophisticated, multi-state gift card fraud ring.” No further information about the case has been released.

Numerous agencies investigated the case, including Burleson and Fort Worth police, the U.S. Secret Service Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security, Colleyville Police, Euless Police, Carrollton Police, the Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center, and the Home Depot and Target Organized Retail Crime Teams.