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Pair Arrested After Shopping Spree With Stolen Credit Cards

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 24, 2009

A man and a woman from Jacksonville took credit cards from five Carrollwood shoppers on Friday for their own daylong spending spree, deputies said.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office arrested Gabriel Edwards, 28, and Erica Hudgens, 42, outside a Publix grocery store about 5:40 p.m. Friday, hours after a woman there reported being robbed earlier in the day, records show.

Both were held at the Orient Road Jail today, Hudgens on $18,000 bail and Edwards on $16,500 bail, records show.

Deputies were able to track down the pair swiftly thanks in part to the victims who reported transactions from the stolen cards, affidavits say.

It all started about 11 a.m. at a Publix at 10015 N. Dale Mabry Highway, where a woman reported her wallet was removed from a shopping cart. About 1:15 p.m., another woman reported her wallet taken from her purse at Beall's Department Store at 15792 N. Dale Mabry Highway, affidavits say.

A similar report came in about 2 p.m. from the Publix at 15151 N. Dale Mabry Highway. The woman whose wallet was stolen at that store told deputies that when she called to cancel her credit cards, she learned the cards already had been used. One was charged $331.67 at a GameStop at 15217 N. Dale Mabry Highway, and the other was charged $428.25 at a CVS drugstore, affidavits say.

Deputies checked store security video from the GameStop and saw a man later identified as Edwards making the purchase the woman reported. They also saw him leave on the video in a black GMC Envoy with Florida license tags, affidavits say.

Meanwhile, a woman at another Publix store at 5371 Ehrlich Road reported her wallet was swiped out of a shopping cart. Another woman reported her wallet stolen from her purse while shopping about 3:30 p.m. at a Publix at 13178 N. Dale Mabry Highway. This woman told deputies that when canceling her credit cards, she learned one had been charged $1,333.22 at a nearby Wal-Mart, affidavits say.

About 5:40 p.m., deputies recognized a GMC Envoy matching the description from the GameStop video in the shopping plaza at 15151 N. Dale Mabry Highway, affidavits say.

They pulled over the GMC and found Edwards and Hudgens, with the five victims' belongings, affidavits say. They also found two laptop computers that had been purchased at the Wal-Mart that afternoon, with a receipt, affidavits say.

Hudgens denied any wrongdoing, but Edwards told deputies Hudgens would steal the wallets and give him the credit cards for purchases, affidavits say.

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