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A former Amazon employee from Hartford told a judge that a gambling addiction drove him to commit his crimes, and on January 6, he was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. He admitted to defrauding Amazon 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 in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $167,115.69 in restitution to Amazon.
Kimble held positions in Connecticut as a regional fleet specialist and regional manager, which gave him access to Amazon’s internal rewards system, known as Peak. The program, run through a shopping platform called Coupa, allows managers to order free Amazon products to reward employees for good work.
Prosecutors said that from July 2021 to December 2022, Kimble placed more than 200 false orders in the system, claiming the items were for employees. Instead, they were shipped to his mother’s home for his own use. The orders included expensive electronics like iPad Pros, AirPods, Apple Watches and Nintendo Switch consoles.
Amazon worker in Hartford says gambling addiction fueled fraud
In a letter to the court before sentencing, the Connecticut Post reported that Kimble said a long-term gambling addiction played a big role in what he did. He wrote that he was losing money, often while drinking. left him feeling trapped, depressed and hopeless. After losing money, he said he would go home and order more products through the Amazon system to generate funds to continue gambling.
“Every time I picked up another item, I always said it would be the last time,” Kimble wrote, adding that gambling losses left him “worthless” and caused him to keep ordering items to sell or use in order to keep going.
Kimble’s attorney, Allison Kahl, urged the judge to give him probation rather than prison time, saying a prison sentence would disrupt his treatment for medical, mental health and gambling issues. She also argued that Amazon planned to write off the stolen merchandise, so the company would not suffer direct financial consequences.
Prosecutors pushed back, saying the case was not about how losses were recorded on Amazon’s books. They said it was repeated lies by Kimble and abuse of a system meant to reward other employees.
“Each time he placed an order, often for several high-end electronic items, he decided to commit a crime,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Miller wrote in a court filing.
Prosecutors also pointed to Kimble’s lengthy criminal record, which includes 14 prior convictions. They included first-degree assault and robbery in a 2005 case in which he shot someone during a drug deal. They said he spent more than 12 years behind bars during his life.
Kimble was arrested in August 2024 and later pleaded guilty to wire fraud in June 2025. He is currently on $250,000 bail and is scheduled to report to jail on March 20.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Connecticut Financial Crimes Task Force, with assistance from local police.
Featured Image: Todd Van Hoosear via WikiCommons / CC BY-SA 2.0
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