Man arrested for allegedly using stolen credit cards

CROCKETT, Texas (KETK) – A man was arrested in Crockett on Sept. 23 for allegedly using stolen credit cards to buy gasoline on more than one occasion. Our news partners at KETK report a business on Loop 304 in Crockett reported a fuel theft worth about $1,111 on Aug. 28, according to the Crockett Police Department. “The investigation showed an unidentified individual pumping fuel at the business on several occasions, usually late at night or in the early morning hours when the business was closed,” according to Crockett PD. “Each time, the individual drove different vehicles and paid for the fuel using fraudulent credit cards.”

On Sept. 23, a deputy with the Houston County Sheriff’s Office was driving by the business and noticed one of the vehicles that had been previously driven by the suspect in the case pumping fuel there. The deputy told Crockett PD, who arrived and arrested 40-year-old Michel Perez Mendez from Cleveland.

Investigators reportedly found Mendez’s vehicle had been modified with two 300-gallon tanks to store fuel and found 31 gift cards, each with a different victim’s card information programmed into them.

Officers additionally found that Mendez had an arrest warrant out of Angelina County. He was taken to the Houston County Jail.