Utah Highway Patrol stop leads to shoplifting, drugs and credit card fraud charges  Saturday, a traffic stop by the Utah Highway Patrol resulted in the arrest of two men from New York for multiple felony charges related, among other things, to drugs, theft and illegal financial card possession. When the trooper contacted the driver, Grandpierre, and passenger, Pearson, the statement said he could smell a strong odor of raw and burnt marijuana. The trooper found that Grandpierre’s drivers license had been suspended, and he was placed under arrest. A search of the van produced a bag of suspected marijuana and hash in the passenger door area. Also found during the search, the statement said, were five or six Target store bags containing about 30-40 bags of Starbucks brand coffee and at least 40 high-end coffee mugs. In the back of the van, the statement said troopers found a laptop computer, scanner, laser printer, five cell phones and bags of new clothing with tags still on them. (Source stgeorgeutah.com)

Credit Card Skimmer Found at LIRR Station; Suspect Has Ties to Identity Theft Ring: MTA  Authorities are looking for a 35-year-old Romanian national who police say has ties to an identity theft gang in California after they discovered a credit card scanning device inside a ticket machine at a Long Island Rail Road station. The MTA identified the suspect as Vasile Ovidiu Haidau. Last week, an LIRR technician discovered a scanning device inside the card slot in a ticket machine at the station in Baldwin; a tiny camera positioned above the keyboard to videotape customers typing in their PINs was also found. (Source nbcnewyork.com)

First of 3 charged suspected of stealing about $1 million in jewelry across U.S.
A Chicago woman was charged Monday in Racine County Circuit Court with being party to a felony theft after she and two men allegedly stole rings valued at $17,000 from Shaw’s Jewelers in Regency Mall, in January. The accused, Cynthia Winston, 48, is one of a three-person team suspected of stealing about $1 million of jewelry in numerous store thefts across the country and sought by the U.S. Marshals Service. Investigators with the Racine Police Department were eventually contacted by detectives from Gurnee, Ill., who also were investigating a case involving the same three suspects and confirmed that they are wanted in numerous states for similar incidents. Winston is the first of the three to be charged for this theft in Racine. (Source journaltimes.com)

3 charged in Walmart theft in San Antonio, TX; pit bull shot during arrests
Three men were arrested and a pit bull dog was shot and killed after a reported theft at a Walmart in Eastern Bexar County early Tuesday morning, Deputies responded to a call for a theft from the Walmart and were able to get the license plate of a vehicle seen leaving the store. Deputies tracked the vehicle to a nearby home and said one of the alleged thieves walked outside and ran back inside when he saw deputies. The deputies were confronted by a pit bull and forced to shoot the dog in self-defense to get to the alleged thieves. Deputies took all three into custody, but said the pit bull died. Officials said the men had stolen a large TV and a computer. (Source ksat.com)

Summit County identity theft suspect faces 46 felony, misdemeanor charges across seven cases  A Summit County woman facing 46 felony and misdemeanor charges in seven separate cases appeared Tuesday, April 8. Sebben faces 23 counts of identity theft, a Class 4 felony, 11 counts of unauthorized use of a financial transaction device, three counts of theft, and two counts each of violation of bail bond conditions and criminal possession of a financial transaction device, all misdemeanors, as well as a traffic violation for failing to obey a traffic control device. Sebben remains in jail on $50,000 bond from a 2013 identity theft case. (Source summitdaily.com)