On Wednesday, August 7, 2019, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) Identity Theft Strike Force Unit arrested four Polk County suspects and charged three other suspects who live in Miami via warrant – all of them have been working together since January 2019 committing racketeering, money laundering, and fraud at Gap, Inc. stores in 15 different Florida counties, using stolen credit cards from Chase Bank customers.
The investigation began in March 2019 when the Southeast and the North Florida Organized Retail Crime Managers for Gap, Inc. contacted PCSO in relation to the fraudulent transactions. PCSO detectives were provided with and reviewed the video surveillance and electronic journals from Gap, Old Navy, Athleta, and Banana Republic stores in 15 different Florida counties, and identified six suspects.
The suspects were buying merchandise at the stores with stolen and/or fraudulent Chase Bank credit cards, then returning the merchandise to different Gap, Inc. stores and receiving refunds on their own personal credit cards. The statewide prosecutor for… The Daily Ridge