On January 15, Boca Raton Police officers received a report of fraudulent purchases made on the victim’s credit card in various places, but the victim believed the theft of his credit card information occurred at the McDonalds at 701 West Yamato Road.
The victim told officers he comes to Boca Raton on a weekly basis and routinely eats at McDonalds where he pays with his debit card. Investigating officers contacted the manager of McDonalds and he checked their video during the timeframes provided by the victim. When the manager reviewed the video, he discovered the employee working the drive-thru, Percival James, appeared to be acting suspiciously after he swiped customer’s cards. The manager told officers he had recently been contacted by several customers who also had their credit card information taken and used fraudulently.
Officers met with the manager and viewed the surveillance video, which showed James swiping the victims’ credit cards on the McDonalds system then swiping them again on a small, black device. Officers then spoke with James, who told them he had been approached several months ago by two unknown subjects who asked if he wanted to skim customer’s credit cards to make some extra money. James told officers he would skim the credit cards then meet up with them periodically to exchange the device for the cash and he had done this about three times.
Officers arrested James and when they searched him, they located the skimming device in a pocket. Officers charged James with using a scanning device to defraud, possession of credit card making equipment, and identity fraud.
If anyone believes their credit card information was skimmed at this McDonalds, please call Detective John Turek at (561) 620-6148.
Caption: Percival James