A 25-year-old Middle River man who handled customer complaints and returns for Ikea has been convicted of a theft scheme in which he stole nearly $400,000 from the Swedish furniture company. Suraj S. Samaroo pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of felony theft scheme, according to Baltimore County prosecutor Adam Lippe. The prosecutor will ask that he be sentenced to 15 years in prison, with five years of that term suspended and five years of supervised probation to serve upon his release. Samaroo admitted that he used the records of legitimate purchases from Ikea customers to issue unauthorized refunds to himself for merchandise that customers never returned. Samaroo worked at an Ikea call center in White Marsh. The yearlong scheme came to an end when Samaroo's bank noticed the unusual series of deposits and filed a report of suspicious activity with police, which is required for any transfer of more than $10,000. The total loss to Ikea was $398,307, the prosecutor said.
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