Rochester Purse Theft Leads to Credit Card Fraud Conviction
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A former Rochester man who committed a crime just minutes after his release from the Olmsted County jail last winter today admitted to a felony credit card fraud charge. In exchange, six other felony fraud-related charges against 31-year-old Liban Barre were dismissed.
According to the charges against him, following his release from jail back in January, Barre went into the nearby Limb Lab business and stole an employee’s purse. Police reports say he then hailed a taxi for a ride to Apache Mall. Barre told the driver to wait while he did some shopping because he would need a ride to the Twin Cities and handed him a credit card from the stolen purse.
While Barre was shopping and using two stolen credit cards to make almost $4000 in purchases, the suspicious taxidriver contacted police around the same time the Limb Lab employee noticed her purse was missing and also called the police department.
The officers responding to the reports were able to apprehend Barre at the shopping center and bring him back to the Olmsted County jail. The Richfield man is scheduled to be sentenced the afternoon of January 8th.
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