Jan 10, 2018 3 min read

South Strabane Township police are crediting a store’s loss-prevention officers in the arrest of a Florida man accused of “card skimming” at an automated teller machine inside the store.

Richar Garay, 31, of Homestead, Fla., was taken into custody by police Monday at Target in Strabane Square.

He is charged with two counts of felony access device fraud, identity theft and possessing instruments of a crime.

“Without the heads-up work by Target loss prevention, this arrest would not have happened,” said Detective Ken Torboli, who filed the charges against Garay. “They identified the suspect and gave us enough to charge him. I’m confident they prevented others from becoming victims.”

Police were called to the store for a fraudulent use of a bank card. A man, later identified as Garay, was seen using the ATM inside the store multiple times.

He then entered the store and made purchases of gift cards and clothing by swiping a card.

Police said that on Dec. 18, Garay tried to make a purchase, but his card was declined. He then produced another card to pay for the items.

The following day, police said he was back at the store and withdrew $400 from a woman’s credit union account.

He tried to withdraw another $400 from the same account but was denied, and also was denied when he tried to use the card to make a purchase at the store, police said.

When Garay returned to the store Monday, he again went to the ATM and made several transactions, police said.

A loss-prevention officer recognized him from the earlier incidents and called police. Police said Garay, who appeared nervous, admitted to conducting the transactions on Dec. 18 and 19 but told Torboli that he found the cards.

Torboli obtained a search warrant for Garay’s vehicle. Found inside the vehicle during Tuesday’s search were multiple cards and a laptop that Torboli believes may have been used in the commission of the crimes.

“We will continue to investigate and see if he is involved in other incidents in the area,” Torboli said.

Garay is not the first person accused of “card skimming” by the department. Last month, Nicu S. Pantelica, 28, of Ridgewood, N.Y., was arrested on charges including access device fraud and identity theft after he allegedly used a card skimmer in an attempt to obtain bank information from an automated teller machine at First Federal of Greene County. Pantelica waived his case to court Dec. 26 and is scheduled to be formally arraigned on the charges March 29. He remains in Washington County jail on $500,000 bond.

“We are getting swamped with this type of activity,” Torboli said. “For some reason, they have picked our area to set up shop.”

Garay was arraigned before District Judge Robert Redlinger and placed in Washington County jail on $50,000 bond. He is scheduled for a Jan. 30 preliminary hearing before District Judge Jay Weller.