Police in West University Place are trying to track down the man accused of using other people’s personal information to open fraudulent credit card accounts at Home Depot.
The suspect is John Carl Sutterley, according to police.
Detective Matthew Sutton said Sutterley used the names, birthdays and social security numbers of other people to open 27 accounts at Home Depot. The accounts date back to July and total roughly $35,000 in charges.
“This guy apparently has a history of doing this type of crime,” Sutton said.
According to investigators, Sutterley did time behind bars for a similar crime and was released in February of this year.
In the current case, most of the victims learned something was wrong through their mail.
“I was visiting my mother and my husband called and said, ‘Hey, you’ve got a Home Depot credit card,’ and I said I did not apply for that,” said one of the victims, who did not want her name revealed.
Police said the fraudulent accounts have now been closed and the victim said Home Depot told her she would not be responsible for the charges.
“It’s just stressful. This has been a stressful year anyway and I had to go online, freeze all my credit, and then you’ve got to just keep checking,” the victim said.
Investigators are still trying to figure out how the victims’ personal information was obtained and what happened with the items that were purchased.