HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday announced the recent arrest of a Pittsburgh man charged with assuming identities to make more than $100,000 in online credit purchases from area Lowe’s and Giant Eagle stores.
Cornelius P. Tucker, 33, is charged with more than 200 counts of felony identity theft and related offenses for assuming the identities of hundreds of people to place the orders. Tucker then sold the merchandise, at a discount, on his Facebook page.
The Office of Attorney General investigation showed that Tucker obtained more than $100,000 in merchandise through the scheme.
“This defendant placed hundreds of online orders, under the names and accounts of unsuspecting victims, then fenced the goods to buyers on Facebook,” Attorney General 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.”
According to the investigation, Tucker purchased power tools, home security products, and other items which he then resold on his Facebook page, “Pittsburgh Stamps.” Tucker picked up the purchased items from stores in Allegheny, Beaver, Crawford, Washington, and Westmoreland counties.
Investigators had been attempting to locate Tucker for quite some time, prior to taking him into custody on July 3.
The cases will be prosecuted by the Office of Attorney General’s Organized Retail Crime Unit. Criminal charges, and any discussion thereof, are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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