A Pittsburgh man is charged with more than 200 counts of felony identity theft after authorities said he made $100,000 in unauthorized credit card purchases from area Lowe’s and Giant Eagle stores, then sold the merchandise.
Cornelius P. Tucker, 33, assumed the identities of hundreds of people to place the orders, and then sold the ill-gotten merchandise through his Facebook page, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said.
Tucker purchased power tools, home security products and other items which he then resold on his Facebook page, “Pittsburgh Stamps,” according to court records.
Tucker picked up the purchased items from stores in Allegheny, Beaver, Crawford, Washington and Westmoreland counties, investigators said. They had been attempting to locate him for quite some time prior to taking him into custody on July 3.
“This defendant placed hundreds of online orders, under the names and accounts of unsuspecting victims, then fenced the goods to buyers on Facebook,” Sunday said. “This arrest resulted from a meticulous investigation by our Organized Retail Crime Unit, which would not have been possible without a network of collaborating partners committed to stopping these sophisticated schemes.”
Tucker is in the Allegheny County Jail after failing to post $250,000 bond. He has a preliminary hearing in Monroeville on July 14, and does not have an attorney listed in court papers.