Lang
10-20-19
A resident of a local homeless shelter claims he used stolen credit cards to buy cigarettes, then sold those cigarettes to raise money to pay for his daughter’s medicine.
In December of 2015 the victim reported his wallet had been stolen and his credit cards used at the 1st Avenue Hy-Vee in Iowa City. The suspect made purchases of $.89, $21.47 and $5.72 on a Visa card and $10.28 on a Capitol One card. The victim cancelled the cards before the suspect was able to purchase $69.09 in groceries 45 minutes later.
Video evidence led investigators to 37-year-old Jonathan Brown, who claimed he’d found the wallet in the parking lot of the Church of the Nazarene on Wade Street. Police say Brown said he knew he should have turned the wallet in. Instead he claimed he used the cards to buy cigarettes, then sold the cigarettes to raise money to buy his daughter some medications. He then threw the wallet away.
Brown, who lists his address as Shelter House on Southgate Avenue, was booked into the Johnson County Jail just before 5:45 Saturday night and charged with Unauthorized Use of a Credit Card. If convicted, he faces a maximum of two years in prison.