Home Depot theft ring: Manooj Heeralall, of Baldwin, gets up to 4 years in prison

A Baldwin man who ran a retail theft ring that targeted Home Depots on Long Island and in Queens and Brooklyn was sentenced Monday to up to 4 years behind bars for his crimes.

Manooj Heeralall, 54, also forfeited his 2004 Nissan, $2,640 in cash and stolen items seized in a raid on his home.

Prosecutors charge that Heeralall hired a crew between October 2021 and December 2023 to shoplift circuit breakers, light switches and other merchandise from the big-box home supply stores in Freeport, Levittown, Syosset, Westbury and outlets in the other counties as well.

Heeralall would pay his team for the stolen goods and then ship them to Guyana for resale, authorities said.

“Retail theft rings like the one run by this defendant strike at the heart of our local economy, targeting both large corporations and small businesses,” Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement.

Investigators armed with a search warrant raided Heeralall’s Baldwin home on Dec. 7, 2023, where they found nearly 1,000 circuit breakers worth more than $15,000, prosecutors said. Inside his garage were more stolen items being prepped for shipment, such as circular-saw blades, light-switch plates, acrylic roof coating and other items.

Authorities estimate the value of the stolen goods at just above $37,000.

Heeralall pleaded guilty to third-degree grand larceny on Aug. 8 in front of acting State Supreme Court Justice Howard Sturim.

Heeralall’s defense attorney, Raymond Baierlein, said his client is hoping to move on from his crime.

“Mr. Heeralall is a good man — a devoted husband and father — who has acknowledged that he made a serious mistake,” the attorney said. “He has taken full responsibility for his actions and accepts the consequences that come with them.”