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Welcome to the Polk County Sheriff's Office News Room, where the Public Information Officers (PIO's) post all of the information that they release to the news media. PIO's act as liaisons between news media organizations and the Sheriff's Office. The PIO's routinely release timely and accurate information and Crime Stoppers bulletins, and respond to routine and "breaking news" media inquiries. News releases and Crime Stoppers information can be found on this page.
PCSO's full-time Public Information Officers are Brian Bruchey, Carrie Horstman, and Alicia Manautou. The Public Information Officers can be reached by sending an e-mail collectively at PIOs@polksheriff.org.
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Three people have been arrested following a Polk County Sheriff's Office Organized Retail Theft Unit investigation that found they had worked together stealing the identities and personal information of sixty people, and using that information to defraud various JC Penney's stores in eleven counties. One other person is still being sought.
The group fraudulently purchased merchandise with credit cards in other people's names, then exchanged that merchandise for gift cards or cash at JC Penney's stores. They would then sell the gift cards for cash at a discounted rate.
Each of the suspects will face various amounts of charges, among them are: Racketeering, Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering, Grand Theft, Petit Theft, Criminal Use of Personal Identification Information-30 or more persons and Criminal Use of Personal Identification Information.
The arrested individuals are:
Still at-large is:
There were three JC Penney's stores in Polk County that were victims of Grand and Petit Theft: 3800 U.S. 98 North Suite 200, Lakeland; 6200 Grandview Parkway, Davenport; and 501 Eagle Ridge Drive, Lake Wales.
The other JC Penney's Stores were located in the following counties: Duval, Clay, Lake, Pinellas, Pasco, Volusia, Orange, Osceola, and Hillsborough. These counties are located within 8 different Judicial Circuits.
"This investigation turned up sixty victims of identity theft from all over the United States, and the numerous JC Penney's stores across Florida. But it doesn't stop there, because when stores lose money like this, it eventually costs us all. This was outstanding investigative work by our Organized Retail Crime Unit." - Grady Judd, Sheriff
The investigation began on March 21, 2018 when JC Penney's contacted the Polk County Sheriff's Office about fraudulent activity at their stores.
Between October 26, 2017 and April 3, 2018, Nelson, Scott, Byrd, and Gibson (and possibly others) were responsible for making sixty five separate fraudulent transactions online to purchase $21,555.43 worth of JC Penney's merchandise using someone else's credit/debit card information. 15 of those occurred in Polk County.
Members of the organization were able to obtain thirty-two JC Penney's gift cards totaling $10,458.29 (exchanged for fraudulently purchased merchandise), three cash refunds totaling $877.34 and one transaction valued at $303.88 where the merchandise was returned for either cash or a JC Penney's gift card. Twenty-two of the fraudulently obtained JC Penney's gift cards were sold at Tampa Gift Card King that is located at 9340 North Florida Avenue Unit F in Tampa, Florida for a total of $4,729.00.