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OREM — Police booked two men on suspicions of tens of thousands of dollars worth of credit card fraud.
On Oct. 31 at about 12:30 p.m., an Orem police officer responded to a credit card fraud call at the Best in Music in Orem where a man allegedly purchased $10,000 worth of guitars with fraudulent credit cards, police said.
The man was described as a heavyset, Hispanic male who was driving a white SUV with California plates.
According to Lt. Craig Martinez of the Orem Police Department, while the responding officer was out on this call, dispatch informed him of a similar case that was currently in progress at the Summerhays Music in Orem.
However, the alleged theif was still on scene, and he didn't match the description of the man from the Best in Music call, Lt. Martinez said.
When officers responded to the call at Summerhays Music, they arrested Robert Richardson, 24, from California.
Upon investigation, Lt. Martinez said that Richardson and a second man, Marc Martinez, 33, were allegedly working together as they traveled away from California. As the pair traveled, they were allegedly stealing identities, making fraudulent credit cars and using the cards to make tens of thousands of dollars in purchases, according to police.
Investigators located Marc Martinez in the Best Western Hotel in Springville. Marc Martinez first identified himself as "Juan Ramirez," but police said that Ramirez was a victim of identity theft from Florida.
Lt. Martinez said they recovered "most or all" of the property purchased in Utah, numerous fake IDs and credit cards, stolen credit card numbers and the machine the pair allegedly used to make the fake credit cards.
Marc Martinez and Richardson were both booked into the Utah County Jail and charged with possession of a forged writing device, unlawful use of a credit card, identity theft, possession of stolen property, possession of marijuana and false information, Lt. Martinez said said.