Massachusetts seafood heist: Jamaican national indicted for stealing $325,000 crab order

Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald on Apr 8, 2026

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BOSTON — A Jamaican national connected to a massive cargo-theft scheme that hit Massachusetts has been indicted for allegedly stealing nearly 34,000 pounds of frozen snow crabs from a Worcester storage warehouse.

Romoy Forbes, 31, of Deer Park, New York, is facing the courts for his alleged spree of thefts that the feds say involved other states and included $35,200 worth of beer, pallets of blueberries, and over $430,000 worth of designer cologne.

In addition to the 33,750 pounds of frozen snow crabs he allegedly stole in Worcester, Forbes is accused of ripping off over $800,000 in products from shipping companies. The seafood was worth roughly $325,000, according to the FBI.

Forbes appeared in federal court in Worcester on Tuesday to be arraigned on charges that include interstate transportation of stolen goods and conspiracy to commit the offense.

The defendant and an unnamed co-conspirator allegedly stole the frozen crab last July, hacking into the email account of a legitimate trucking company and then pretending to be employees of that company.

The Worcester seafood business, not named in the court records, had advertised looking for a company to truck the seafood from its warehouse to Jacksonville, Fla.

“Instead of delivering the cargo loads to the customers who have purchased the goods, the co-conspirators sell the items elsewhere, for illicit profit,” FBI special agent Brendan Retalic stated in an affidavit.

Federal authorities allege that Forbes sandwiched his Worcester crab heist last summer between a $4,000 shipment of blueberries he stole in June and 14 pallets of cologne in late July, according to the charging documents.

On July 15, Forbes arrived at the Worcester warehouse claiming to be an employee of the trucking company, the affidavit said, appearing to present his real New York ID and phone number to a worker there.

Stills from surveillance footage at the warehouse show Forbes in a hi-viz vest and driving a large red truck that didn’t have any of his purported company’s logos.

At the same time, his co-conspirator sent a message to the warehouse, from the hacked-trucking company account, letting them know their driver was there.

The co-conspirator was told he had to give the company a phone number and photos of the truck for the delivery to be processed, leading the co-conspirator to pass along a phone number, not associated with Forbes, and a photo of a truck that was different from the one Forbes had driven to the warehouse.

“These images did not match the truck that Forbes had driven [to the Worcester warehouse] to retrieve the seafood, but [the employee] was unaware of the discrepancy,” the affidavit stated.

After accepting the delivery, the defendant delivered the seafood to a grocery store in Queens, N.Y., instead of to the customer in Florida, the court documents alleged.

The interstate transportation of stolen goods charge comes with a maximum penalty of ten years behind bars, while the conspiracy charge could lead to up to five years in prison.

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