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Freeport Teen 4th Charged in Gym ID Thefts

By on March 8, 2013

ID THEFTA fourth teenager has been accused of working with three others who authorities said broke into fitness club lockers to steal victims’ credit and bank account information across Long Island.

Suffolk County police Thursday arrested 17-year-old Kewon Brandon of Freeport on charges of unlawful possession of a skimming device, unlawful possession of personal identification information, assault and petit larceny.

Andre Clayton, the first of three 19-year-old suspects previously arrested in the same case, was also charged with additional counts of identity theft Friday.

Long Island’s $2 Million-a-year Counterfeiting Problem

Police said all four broke into lockers at various gyms, used a portable skimmer to steal victims’ credit and debit card information, photographed the victims’ driver’s licenses and then used the personal and account info to clone the credit and debit cards.

The teens then allegedly used the cloned cards to buy gift cards and other items at BJ’s Wholesale and Home Depot, police said. Suffolk police said the group is being investigated for identical thefts in Connecticut and New Jersey.

Clayton was released without bail after his initial arrest in the case in December. He and Brandon are expected to be arraigned Friday at First District Court in Central Islip on the latest charges along with their codefendants, Latique Oates, of Freeport, Rameez Senior, of St. Albans.

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Timothy Bolger Timothy Bolger (464 Posts)

Timothy Bolger is the News/Web Editor for the Long Island Press who’s been working to uncover unreported stories for the paper since shortly after it launched in 2003. When he’s not editing, getting hassled by The Man or fielding cold calls to the newsroom, he covers crime, general interest and political news daily online with longer, sometimes investigative features in the monthly print edition. He won’t be happy until everyone is as pissed off as he is about how Lawn Guyland is screwed up.