Man Sentenced to 10 Months for Credit Card Theft, Fraud After Charging Over $7k in Unauthorized Purchases to Contracting Company Card
NORFOLK, Va. — Daniel John O’Neil, 28, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to four fraud-related felonies and was sentenced to serve 10 months in jail after he charged more than $7,000 in unauthorized purchases to a stolen credit card belonging to a local contracting company.
Between Nov. 7 and 13 of last year, Mr. O’Neil charged the credit card nearly a dozen times at the Norfolk Home Depot on North Military Highway. The card had been issued to a company employee who had reported the card stolen following his termination. Mr. O’Neil had never worked for the company and did not have permission to use their card.
When the contracting company became aware of the suspicious credit card transactions, the company reported the issue (and, initially, the former employee to whom the credit card was issued) to the Chesapeake Police Department. In their investigation, the police reviewed surveillance footage from Home Depot stores in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Norfolk and identified Mr. O’Neil and another individual as suspects. In total, Mr. O’Neil had charged $7,314 at the Norfolk store, and the company contacted Norfolk Police to continue the investigation and pursue charges.
On Tuesday, Mr. O’Neil entered an agreement to plead guilty to four charges: credit card fraud, credit card theft, and conspiring to commit those two felonies. His plea agreement called for a sentence of 10 months to serve in jail and another three years and two months in prison suspended on the conditions that he complete a residential substance abuse treatment program, five years of uniform good behavior and supervised probation after his release. Judge Devon R. Paige accepted Mr. O’Neil’s plea agreement and sentenced him in accordance with the agreement. Mr. O’Neil’s sentence was consistent with the recommendations of his state sentencing guidelines.
“Quick work by the victim companies and the Norfolk and Chesapeake Police, plus surveillance cameras, have allowed us to hold Mr. O’Neil accountable for his crimes against the credit-card holder and the retailer whom he defrauded,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “Stealing is wrong, no matter the method or the excuse, and I hope that Mr. O’Neil makes use of the resources available in custody and on probation to avoid this kind of behavior in the future.”
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Wm. Joshua Holder prosecuted Mr. O’Neil’s case, and Norfolk Police Detective Nathan R. Banks led the investigation.
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