On Saturday, Jan. 7, at 6:37 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department heard on their radios a report of a fraud in progress at Bloomingdale’s, located at 315 Colorado Avenue.
When the officers arrived at the store they were flagged down by the loss prevention officers, who then told them that the suspects had fled from the scene.
Armed with descriptions of the suspects the officers went in search, and in no time at all they located one of these alleged fraudsters walking along the 200 block of Colorado Avenue (about a block away).
The officers detained this suspect.
The officers investigated and discovered that this man and his accomplice had entered Bloomingdale’s, and had attempted to buy $8,000 worth of gift cards using a fraudulent credit card and New York identification.
The sales associate, smelling a rat, had gone into into the back room to alert the loss prevention officers, leaving the suspects standing at the counter.
It was then that the suspects, apparently also smelling a rat (but a different kind) fled from the store, and split up.
Based upon their investigation, the officers arrested this 49-year-old San Bernardino resident, and he was charged with burglary, false pretenses, probation violation, and also a hold under Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Bail was not granted at the time. The second suspect got away.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of the Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
