A former Amazon worker from Hartford told a judge that a long-running gambling addiction drove him to commit his crimes, and on January 6 he was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. He admitted to scamming Amazon out of more than $167,000 by taking advantage of the company’s employee rewards program, according to court records.
Terrell Kimble, 45, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Omar A. Williams in Hartford to 18 months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $167,115.69 in restitution to Amazon.
Kimble held jobs in Connecticut as a regional fleet specialist and area manager, which gave him access to Amazon’s internal rewards system, known as Peak. The program, run through a purchasing platform called Coupa, lets managers order free Amazon products to reward employees for good work.
Prosecutors said that from July 2021 through December 2022, Kimble made more than 200 fake orders in the system, claiming the items were going to employees. Instead, they were shipped to his mother’s house for his own use. The orders included pricey electronics like iPad Pros, AirPods, Apple Watches, and Nintendo Switch consoles.
Hartford Amazon worker says gambling addiction fueled fraud
In a letter to the court before sentencing, the Connecticut Post reported that Kimble said a long-running gambling addiction played a big role in what he did. He wrote that losing money, often while drinking. left him feeling trapped, depressed, and desperate. After losing money, he said he would return home and order more products through the Amazon system to generate funds to continue gambling.
“Every time I took another item I always said this will be the last time,” Kimble wrote, adding that gambling losses left him feeling “worthless” and pushed him to keep ordering items to sell or use in order to keep going.
Kimble’s lawyer, Allison Kahl, urged the judge to give him probation instead of prison, saying jail time would disrupt his treatment for medical, mental health, and gambling problems. She also argued that Amazon was planning to write off the stolen merchandise, so the company wouldn’t take a direct financial hit.
Prosecutors pushed back, saying the case wasn’t about how the losses were recorded on Amazon’s books. They said it was about Kimble repeatedly lying and abusing a system that was meant to reward other employees.
“Each time he entered an order, often for multiple high end electronic items, he decided to commit a crime,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Miller wrote in court filings.
Prosecutors also pointed to Kimble’s long criminal record, which includes 14 prior convictions. Among them were first-degree assault and robbery from a 2005 case in which he shot someone during a drug deal. They said he has spent more than 12 years behind bars over the course of his life.
Kimble was arrested in August 2024 and later pleaded guilty to wire fraud in June 2025. He’s currently out on a $250,000 bond and is scheduled to report to prison on March 20.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Connecticut Financial Crimes Task Force, with help from local police.
Featured image: Todd Van Hoosear via WikiCommons / CC BY-SA 2.0
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