New York has seen some recent credit card theft recently that’s pretty newsworthy. In Orange County, a judge sentenced a 19-year-old man by the name of Jonathan Pantoja for stealing a credit card earlier this year.
Apparently, Pantoja was arrested on June 14 by state police after they received a complaint from a Sam’s Club customer. According to the complaint, Pantoja was a cashier at Sam’s Club as well as a Citgo gas station. Pantoja got the customers talking, distracting them enough so that they forget to retrieve their credit cards, which Pantoja allegedly kept for his own ill-gotten gain. The customers were unaware that they had “forgotten” their credit cards until after leaving the store. Police then linked Pantoja to 17 other complaints of a similar nature.
Pantoja got off relatively easy after copping a plea bargain. As a result, he’s already been let out of jail after having spent three months locked up. In addition to being on probation, Pantoja also has to pay about $3,000 in restitution. If he fails to make a payment, it’s possible that he’ll be sentenced once again to state prison.
In other credit card news in New York, police are actively searching for the people that stole thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from area stores with the help of stolen credit cards. Apparently, surveillance video showed a man and a woman working together in using these credit cards. In one video, the two are seen waiting in a checkout lane with two carts filled with items being purchased with the cards.
On one shopping spree that the couple made at a Target, police believe they purchased more than $3,000 worth of goods. The couple also shopped at a nearby Lowe’s and investigators say the purchases were all made within hours of one another.
According to Police Lieutenant John Van Alstyne, police in the city of Colonie receive complaints of credit card and identity theft on nearly a weekly basis.
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