Man Arrested For Using Debit Card Programmed with Stolen Account Information
The Texarkana Texas Police Department arrested 40-year-old Ulysses Morgan,of Texarkana Texas, for Debit Card Abuse on Monday afternoon after he used a debit card programmed with stolen account information at a local car wash. An additional charge of Fraudulent Use of Identifying Information was added this morning.
According to a press release, officers were dispatched to Westgate Car Wash, located at 3501 Summerhill Road, in reference to a forgery in progress call at 1:46PM on Monday. The business owner told officers that a man, later identified as Morgan, dropped off a vehicle to be washed and prepaid for the service with a debit card. Morgan then left in another vehicle, saying that he would return later to pick up his vehicle. While the vehicle was still being washed, the business received a telephone call from a Georgia man who said that he got a notification from his financial institution that his debit card had been used at the Texarkana business. Upon checking his account, he discovered that his debit card had actually been used in three separate transactions in Texarkana on Monday, including a fast food establishment, convenience store, and the car wash. During a subsequent phone call, the victim told officers that both he and his debit card were in Georgia, and he did not know how anyone could have gotten his account information. Using the last four numbers of the victim’s card and the dollar amount, it was quickly determined that the questionable transaction at the car wash involved Morgan.
Officers waited for Morgan to return to pick up his vehicle and then approached him. Upon being told of the nature of their investigation, Morgan denied using a debit card that belonged to anyone else. When officers asked to see the card that he used to pay for the car wash, Morgan said that he threw it away shortly after using it because there was no money left on the card. Based upon the evidence in the case, the officers arrested Morgan for Debit Card Abuse.
A woman with whom Morgan had initially left the car wash allowed the officers to look inside her vehicle for the debit card he used. They found Morgan’s wallet inside the vehicle, and it contained thirteen credit cards with Morgan’s name on the face of the card. Suspecting that the account information stored on the cards might not belong to Morgan, the officers collected them for further investigation.
Detective Brian Purcell, who investigates financial fraud cases, later scanned the cards collected from Morgan. He discovered that five had Morgan’s name on the face of the card with a card number, but it did not match the data information that returned on the card. Additionally, some of the debit card numbers encrypted on the card did not match those listed on the card. As a result of this discovery, Purcell obtained a warrant for Morgan Tuesday morning for Fraudulent Use of Identifying Information (involving 5-10 items) and served that warrant while Morgan was still in custody on the original charge.
Purcell is currently working to identify other possible victims whose information was placed onto the cards that had Morgan’s name on them. At this time, it appears that all the victims in this case do not live in the Texarkana area, but rather in other parts of the United States.
Morgan’s bond for Debit Card Abuse was set at $15,000. A bond has not yet been set on the Fraudulent Use of Identifying Information charge.