After a woman reported that her debit card had been stolen from her purse the authorities arrested a suspect who was reportedly set up by the actual alleged perpetrator of the theft.
On August 5, Joei Thompson was hanging out at the Chestnut St. Inn in Butler, PA.
When Thompson decided to call it a night around 1:00 am, she reportedly offered a man who was visiting the same establishment a ride home as she left the bar.
Thompson later noticed that her debit card was not inside of her purse where she had left it, and she remembered that her purse was in between the driver and passenger seat in her vehicle on the way home from the bar. The woman suspected that the man to whom she had given a ride swiped her plastic without her knowledge.
The woman began to track the activity on her debit card and learned that nearly $250 in purchases had been made.
The Butler Police Department was notified and Thompson reported that $200 was spent on an iPhone 6S at a local MetroPCS store. The remainder of the missing funds appeared to be used in a transaction at a market for the purchase of a case of beer. Thompson also told the authorities about giving a man she didn’t know a ride home from the bar.
The police went to the reported MetroPCS location and collected the details of the transaction for the iPhone that was allegedly purchased and activated with Thompson’s card. They were given the phone number assigned to the account, which was reportedly opened under the surname “Latimore,” and the authorities noticed that the signature on the receipt appeared to be the word “Thief.”
When they made their way to the market where the beer was purchased the police reported that the signature on the transaction slip matched the one from MetroPCS and also said “Thief.”
In their effort to track down the perpetrator, the authorities ran the name Latimore through their database and found a man named Marc Latimore that appeared to fit the description of the man Thompson said she drove home.
Latimore was arrested, and the police proposed that he be charged with theft, fraud, and receiving stolen property for his purported involvement with the missing debit card.
Investigators looked deeper into the details surrounding the incident and called the phone number assigned to the iPhone. They spoke to a man who identified himself as Marc Latimore, and when the man gave his address and birth date the information he provided matched what was listed under the name of Marc Latimore in the police department’s database.
The police purported that the person on the other end of the call was trying to intentionally make it appear as if Marc Latimore was responsible for the card theft and purchases.
The charges against Marc Latimore were withdrawn, and 36-year-old Ewari Ellis became the person the authorities suspected was behind the theft, in addition to the confusion with Latimore.
Ellis was taken into custody and he is expected to face charges for theft, fraud, receiving stolen property, and falsely incriminating another person.
If you or someone you love is suspected of a crime, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.