Cape Coral police arrested two men on charges tied to counterfeited credit cards after the men tried to use the cards at a store, according to reports.
Alejandro Menendez, 44, of 4590 E. Ninth Lane, Hialeah, is charged with one count of trafficking in or pass counterfeited credit card. Arrest reports from the Cape police state Humberto L. Pupo, 41, of 4531 N.W. Fourth St., Miami, is facing one count of possession of two or more counterfeited credit cards.
Menendez had been released on $50,000 bond and Pupo had been released on $25,000 bond as of Thursday, according to Lee County Jail booking records.
The reports state that employees from BJ’s Wholesale, at 1929 N.E. Pine Island Road, flagged down an officer Tuesday and stated that a man just ran from the store after trying to buy items with fraudulent credit cards. Police saw the man get picked up by a vehicle and conducted a traffic stop.
The man identified as the person who ran from the store was Menendez and the driver of the vehicle was identified as Pupo. During their investigation, police found three credit cards in Pupo’s wallet of which two were fraudulent. Five credit cards found in Menendez’s wallet were fraudulent, police reported.
Witnesses positively identified Menendez as the person who attempted to use a fraudulent credit card to buy items prior to running out of the store.
According to the reports, officers found 13 additional credit cards in the vehicle Pupo was driving while they were completing a storage report for the vehicle to be towed. All 13 cards were fraudulent and had Menendez’s name.
Also found in the vehicle was a bank bag with receipts from home improvement stores in different cities and counties in Florida, police reported. The receipts show high dollar purchases made using credit cards. Several new tools and home improvement items were also in the vehicle.
All of the items were placed into evidence, according to the reports.