San Xavier Beat
Sept. 6, 12:43 a.m.
A homeless man learned the lesson "Don't steal where you live" after he used someone else's credit cards—found at a gas station on one side of his camp—to go on a small shopping spree at a gas station on the other side of his camp (and he was caught almost immediately), a PCSD report said.
Deputies spoke with the clerk at a west-side Valero gas station, who told them a man had come in several times and used credit cards to purchase numerous items totaling more than $150, including two carton of cigarettes. The clerk said he'd asked to see the man's driver's license, and he did resemble the man in the license photo—so he allowed the purchases to go through. But when the man came in one more time to try and buy something else, the clerk asked to examine his ID again, and the man suspiciously left the store without buying anything after all.
After deputies learned that another man had left his wallet at a Giant gas station very nearby—and the wallet was now missing—they theorized the credit cards in the wallet had been used to buy the cigarette cartons. They learned about a homeless man and his girlfriend—who'd previously gotten in trouble at one of the gas stations—living in the desert between the two stores.
Deputies easily found the couple inside a tent in the vicinity—in possession of two cartons of cigarettes. When the man was asked about their evening, he said "he was having a good night so far, but if he went to jail it would be not a good night." He explained he'd purchased the cigarettes with his friend's credit card and was worried he'd get in trouble.
Eventually, he admitted it hadn't used his friend's card, but some credit cards his girlfriend had found at the Valero. He was taken to jail for the night.
