Joana Carolina Fermin, of Hicksville, sentenced as part of $2M theft scheme targeting Home Depot stores

A Hicksville woman has been sentenced to 364 days in prison for her role in an "organized theft operation" that stole more than $2 million worth of merchandise from Home Depot stores in nine states, including 14 on Long Island, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.

Joana Carolina Fermin, 39, previously pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal possession of stolen property in connection with the theft of air conditioners, Bluetooth speakers, power tools and other items from Home Depot stores between August 2024 and September 2025, Katz said in a Monday news release. Fermin was sentenced last Wednesday in Queens Supreme Court.

Scott Bookstein, Fermin’s Queens-based defense attorney, said his client was "not alleged to be the person who created the scheme." Her role, he added, was "supposed to be primarily a lookout."

"She admitted guilt, expressed remorse and was punished accordingly," Bookstein said.

Fermin is among 13 people, either members of a crime crew or black market retailers, since February to be sentenced after pleading guilty for their roles in the hundreds of thefts, according to the release. She was sentenced second-to-last, followed by the crew’s leader, Armando Diaz, 52, of Flushing.

Diaz was sentenced Monday to 3 to 6 years in state prison. On July 1, he pleaded guilty to first-degree grand larceny, second-degree grand larceny, first-degree criminal possession of stolen property and second-degree criminal possession of stolen property, according to the release.

The other defendants hail from the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and upstate Orange County.

A trio of Long Island Home Depot locations were among the hardest hit by the thefts, Newsday previously reported. The Bay Shore location was robbed of $81,635 worth of merchandise, followed by Farmingdale and Westbury, which were targeted for $69,353 and $60,704 worth of goods respectively.

The investigation into the scheme kicked off in June 2024 after detectives with the district attorney’s office spotted air conditioners stolen from a Home Depot while conducting surveillance in a separate matter, Katz’s office said. Investigators determined Diaz’s crew met most days at 5:30 a.m. in an East Elmhurst parking lot to determine which Home Depot locations they would rob based on a review of in-stock items in each store posted on the company’s website and mobile app.

A handful of the crew’s eight members would separately enter a single targeted storefront while on a conference call with Diaz, who instructed their efforts, Katz said. They would place items in garbage bins or carts, use Sheetrock or plywood to conceal themselves, and distract employees. Their 319 documented thefts reaped a total of $2.2 million worth of merchandise that also included smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, portable jump starters, battery-powered chain saws, handheld blowers, reciprocating saws, heat guns and other merchandise. They swiped $1,800 to nearly $35,000 worth of goods each day.

The items were sold to the five black market retailers in the Bronx and driven either to storage units within that borough or locations in Brooklyn and Elmhurst.