A 40-year-old man has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution after pleading guilty to five felony counts, including organized retail theft, authorities said Thursday.

Juan Ambriz-Rincon faces 3.5 years in jail and has been ordered to pay $300,000 in restitution for taking more than $1 million from home improvement stores across the Southwest, according to a release from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

Although the crimes were committed in several states, “the victim company asked MCAO to prosecute here because of MCAO’s expertise in organized retail theft cases,” the release stated.

In April, Ambriz-Rincon pleaded guilty to five felony counts that included organized retail theft, trafficking in stolen property and possession of dangerous drugs.

“Rather than being gainfully employed, this criminal made it his full-time job to steal over $1M from retail stores and then re-sell the stolen merchandise,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said.

“This significant restitution combined with the prison sentence lets offenders know Maricopa County is not the place where you can get away with this type of crime.”

Sean Browne, The Home Depot’s senior manager of organized retail crime, said the company “continues to feel the pressure of organized retail crime across the country.”

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