published: Friday, March 26, 2010

Man uses stolen card to pay for identity theft protection

News-Sun staff

AVON PARK -- George Gomez apparently wanted to make sure his credit was secure from identity theft. According to the Highlands County Sheriff's Office, however, he stole somebody else's identity to do it.

Gomez, 26, was arrested Monday after investigators said that he used a stolen debit card to pay the monthly fees on three credit monitoring services offered by Adaptive Marketing LLC.

Det. Michael Huften reported that between June 8 and Aug. 17 of 2009, Gomez, who was listed as unemployed on the arrest report, used the stolen debit card number from the mother of his ex-girlfriend to pay for services from Credit Score Express, 24Protect and Privacy Matters identity protection programs.

He claimed to be the rightful card holder when he entered into the contract for the services, giving the victim's card number but his personal identification information to sign up, charging a $29.95 monthly fee plus a $1-per-month maintenance charge to the account. There were a total of 12 transactions over a six-month period.

Gomez was charged with fraud/illegal use of credit cards two or more times in six months to obtain goods or services over $100, use of another person's identification without consent -- both third-degree felonies -- and petit theft.