ST. LOUIS – A Canadian man admitted tricking clerks out of thousands of dollars in cash in federal court Friday. It was part of a nationwide ‘sleight of hand’ scheme that hit 13 states this year. It caught up with him right here in the St. Louis area.

Arnold Police have been successful lately in busting at least two alleged international crime rings, specifically crimes in retail stores that are happening right under our noses.

One example landed 38-year-old defendant Mohsen Akbari in federal court. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman, who handled the case, told us, “This was a difficult case because it involved a defendant who was moving quickly across the country. He was very good at what he did.”

Police say he was targeting mostly Walmart stores and stealing cash using tricks. Court records say four days this past June netted him more than $16,000.

Nationwide, court records say it added up to $109,452 during just six months this year, money the defendant admitted in court Friday, that he wired to his home country of Canada.

Akbari walked up to the podium with shackles that were clinking as he addressed the judge in his native language, Farsi, through a translator.

Akbari pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property, which together could get him up to 30 years in prison.

Prosecutor Bateman said, “It was a very unusual case and, again, very difficult. We were just very happy we had state and local federal investigators who were working hard on this.”

He says it was unusual because neither police, nor Walmart stores, could initially identify Akbari – until Arnold Police facial recognition software matched surveillance video to a Canadian newspaper.

Once they had a name, Eureka P.D. assisted in tracking him, as did Homeland Security Investigations, whose officers arrested him in Connecticut. Akbari faces sentencing next March.