MEMPHIS, Tenn.– A heavy haul of expensive high fashion items landed a woman living in a Whitehaven motel behind bars Tuesday.
Police have charged Krystin Whitmire, 42, with embezzling the Coach handbag company out of nearly $200,000 in merchandise.
According to Memphis Police, the Days Inn on Elvis Presley Boulevard is where Whitmire had thousands of dollars in Coach/Tapestry merchandise delivered during a one-year period and where she was busted Tuesday by Memphis Police.
“And they knocked on the door, she wouldn’t let them in, so the front desk lady gave them the key to let them go on in and they brought her on back out and took her to the police car,” said a Days Inn employee.
Whitmire is listed as being from North Carolina but the police affidavit states she lived at the Days Inn for the past three years.
Police documents show Whitmire worked for a Florida-based company that offers “virtual customer service” via inbound calls from customers of Coach/Tapestry. While employed, police say Whitmire was able to access the Coach system and have various products shipped to room 217 at the Days Inn.
She began ordering products in late 2021 and continued until Coach suspected fraudulent activity and disabled her access to order products in early 2022.
The total loss to Coach/Tapestry is alleged at $196,098 over a 12-month period.
Whitmire possibly recruited other people to the same “virtual job” and used their access to order Coach/Tapestry products and have them shipped to the Whitehaven motel. Police say she would advertise them on her Facebook page.
Whitmire was arraigned Wednesday morning. She’s expected to go before a judge again on Friday.
