A 22-year-old man from China who returned to a Coach store in Santa Monica to retrieve a fraudulent credit card he had left behind was arrested on Thursday, July 31 after walking into the presence of officers who were still taking statements from store staff.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department received a call from staff from Coach (purveyors of classic high quality leather goods such as handbags, business, travel, footwear and accessories for men and women, according to themselves) at 4 pm on this day informing them that a man had attempted to defraud the store.
When the officers arrived they spoke with a staff member who told them that earlier that day she (the Coach staff member) had received an email from an employee at Coach’s Culver City store informing her that a man (who resembled the suspect in this case) had that purchased items in the store using fraudulent credit cards.
This staff member also recalled that the same man had entered the store on July 25, 2014 and had purchased items worth approximately $1,700 using a fraudulent credit card.
On this occasion the suspect had attempted to purchase several more items but the staff member had recognized him and had called the police while stalling the suspect in the hope that the police would arrive in time to make the arrest.
The suspect seemed to smell a rat and left the store, however, the rat’s odor must have worn off because as the officers were taking statements from the staff member the suspect, realizing that he had left his fraudulent credit card at the store, returned, and was summarily arrested by the officers and charged with possession of fraudulent credit cards and burglary with intent to commit fraud.
The bail for this 22-year-old resident of The Peoples Republic of China was set at $20,000, or 123260.00 Chinese Yuan.
