Murfreesboro man plead guilty in fraudulent bar code shoplifting ring

A Murfreesboro man accused in a multi-state fraudulent bar code shoplifting ring has plead guilty to the charge against him in the City of Murfreesboro. His wife has been cleared of charges.

James Adkins, 36, plead guilty to one-count of criminal simulation between $60,000 and $250,000, before Rutherford County Circuit Court Judge Barry Tidwell Jan. 17. He received a sentence of time served, probation for 10 years and agreed to forfeit all seized assets.

Adkins was accused of operating The 7 Towers, an online eBay business, out of a Murfreesboro home owned by his wife, Taylor Melvin. The home also served as a distribution center. Detectives served a warrant on the home December 13, 2019. They confiscated more than 6,600 toys (mostly Star Wars), action figures and Lego sets valued between $300,000 and $400,000. A lot of the items were purchased using fraudulent Universal Product Codes (UPC), according to detectives.

Melvin was originally implicated in the fraudulent case, but due to her cooperation with investigators, and Adkins’s guilty plea, the charges against her were dropped.

Adkins still faces Theft of Property charges in Lincoln County Tennessee, Madison, Alabama, and Dalton, Georgia.