Olive Branch Man Among 12 Indicted in $2 Million Nike Cargo Theft Ring in Memphis
By Jon Myers
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Federal authorities have indicted 12 people in an alleged cargo theft conspiracy that targeted Nike’s logistics center in Memphis, and one of the defendants is from Olive Branch.
Michael Perkins, 40, of Olive Branch, Mississippi, was among the 12 named in a federal grand jury indictment returned May 21, charging all of them with conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property. The case is before U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Parker in the Western District of Tennessee.
How the $2 million scheme worked
Prosecutors say the group stole at least $2 million in Nike merchandise between July 2021 and June 2024. According to court records, Nike employees involved in the scheme identified high-value shoe cartons inside the warehouse and attached unauthorized UPS shipping labels that redirected the shipments to addresses across the country instead of their intended destinations. Roughly 3,119 UPS labels were successfully used during the operation, with destinations including California, Wisconsin and Indiana.
The investigation was led by the FBI’s Cargo Theft Task Force with assistance from FBI field offices in Chicago and Los Angeles. One of the highest-profile defendants is Bereket Abraham, 39, of Los Angeles — co-founder of the popular sneaker retailer CoolKicks — who prosecutors allege helped create fraudulent UPS shipping labels to move the stolen merchandise.
“Memphis is proudly known as ‘America’s Distribution Center,’ and organized cargo theft conspiracies disrupt and harm crucial interstate commerce and businesses here in West Tennessee and across America,” said U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant.
The charges and allegations are merely accusations; all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Mississippi lawmaker pushes federal response
The case drew attention at the Mississippi Capitol on Monday, when State Sen. Hillman Frazier (D-Jackson) argued in a Clarion Ledger opinion piece that cargo theft hitting the Memphis freight hub ultimately costs Mississippi families and businesses. Frazier is urging Mississippi’s congressional delegation to back the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA), a bipartisan bill that passed the U.S. House 348–60 in May and would strengthen federal tools to investigate and prosecute organized retail and supply-chain theft.
The bust follows another major federal law enforcement operation in DeSoto County, in which seven human trafficking victims were recovered in Southaven earlier this year.
