Man Charged with Fraud in Phony Credit Card Thefts

A New York man is behind bars after allegedly using a re-encoded credit card to buy electronic devices totaling more than $2,300 from Walmart. 

Bernie R. Atkinson, of the 700 block of Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn, N.Y. was arrested on Monday and charged with theft by deception, access device fraud and receiving stolen property, all felony offenses. He was also charged with retail theft, according to court documents. 

Bensalem Police allege that Atkinson used a credit card bearing his name–but belonging to someone else–to buy three iPads and two iPods from the Bensalem Walmart store on Monday. The purchases were made in separate transactions, which sent a red flag to Walmart associates, according to court documents.

After making the purchases, police located Atkinson at a nearby Starbucks and he had two additional iPods, a new Samsung Galaxy S3 phone and Walmart gift cards in his coat, according to court documents. Police said Atkinson also shoplifted cell phone screen protectors valued at about $10 from the store. 

In all, the total value of property taken from Walmart was $2,387, according to police. 

During questioning, police said Atkinson admitted to responding to an email from an unknown party regarding "how to make money." Atkinson, according to police, agreed to pay $500 from his PayPal account in exchange for four re-encoded credit cards. 

He is being held at the Bucks County Correctional Facility in lieu of 10 percent of $50,000 bail. A preliminary hearing has been set for Thursday.