A 38-year-old Huntington Beach man was arrested on Wednesday, Oct. 23 in Santa Monica after buying mass quantities of dog food using a fraudulent debit card.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department received a report of a fraud at The Healthy Spot Pet Store on this day at 8:13 pm located at 1110 Wilshire Boulevard, so they went there to investigate the (possible) crime.
When the officers arrived they detained the suspect who was in the process of exiting the store and then they spoke with a store employee.
This employee told the officers the suspect had entered the store on Monday, Oct. 21 and had purchased several items using a debit card.
Something about the suspect and the purchase at that time had aroused the suspicions of the staff member so they had contacted the bank that had issued the debit card in order to check that it was genuine.
The bank confirmed her suspicions and told her that it was in fact a fraudulent debit card. The next day the staff member was notified of a similar purchase at a West Hollywood branch of the store.
On Oct. 23, the suspect had returned to the Santa Monica store and had ordered the very same items that he had previously purchased, namely 20 bags of dog food with a retail value of $1,590.10.
On this occasion the Healthy Spot Pet Store employee had called the police.
The police searched the suspect’s vehicle and discovered other items of evidence allegedly linking him to similar crimes.
This man was arrested and charged with burglary, fraudulent use of an access card, and conspiracy to commit a crime.
Bail was set at $20,000.
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.
