Burbank Police arrested Ricardo Chavez, Jr., a 22-year-old resident of Reseda, on felony burglary and identity theft charges on Thursday, March 15.
Chavez attempted to convince employees of the AT&T store at 350 N. San Fernando Rd. to charge four cell phones and phone line service plans to a well-known business, showing documents stating he was employed by the business, including the business’ Tax I.D. number.
Because the AT&T store has a policy in place for verifying business account purchases, the manager found out Chavez was not an employee of the unnamed business when he called to check, said Officer Joshua Kendrick of the Burbank Police Department. The manager then called Burbank Police to the store.
After officers arrived and contacted Chavez at the store, and observed Chavez’ documents with an IRS logo, the unnamed business’ Tax I.D. number and information stating Chavez was an employee of the business.
According to Kendrick, Chavez admitted that the paperwork wasn’t legitimate and he didn’t work for the company as previously stated.
After officers arrested Chavez for the felony burglary charge, they searched his vehicle parked on the street. Inside the vehicle, officers discovered additional documents with other non-profit organizations’ and business’ Tax I.D. numbers and statements of employment, said Kendrick.
Chavez was also charged with felony identity theft and booked at the Burbank Jail with a $20,000 bail.
“AT&T store employees did a great job by checking with that business to see if the suspect was employed there,” commented Kendrick. “It’s important they had that policy in place and followed procedure to prevent loss.”
