I can't wait to hear the lies told on this one.
I don't care what you do for a living, or how good you have it...deep down, each one of you wish you had THAT card!!!! LOL
MAN...if I couldn't hit the lottery, that would be the next best thing!
Levi Kitchens doesn't own a car or have a driver's license, but police say that didn't stop him from charging thousands of dollars worth of fuel to a stolen government gas card.
Mr. Kitchens, 21, of the 4600 block of Crested Butte Road, was picked up last week during a narcotics investigation and has since been charged with at least two counts of financial transaction card fraud, sheriff's Investigator Michelle Walden said Wednesday.
The Atlanta office of the U.S. Inspector General notified the sheriff's office last August of transactions in the Augusta area. Since then, investigators have tracked the use of the stolen card to about 145 transactions across Richmond County, which totaled $29,220 in gasoline purchases charged to the government.
"This guy was pumping $150 at a time, and he would hit several places in the same day," Investigator Walden said.
The Voyager Fleet credit card was reported stolen from a vehicle at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta. Investigator Walden said.
"We know that he didn't steal it," she said. "We believe someone at the base owed him money and instead, they gave him the card."
Investigator Walden said Mr. Kitchens was seen using the card to fill up the gas tanks of friends and family.
"One of the typical things people do when they get stolen credit cards is fill up, say, $40 in gas and charge their friend $20," she said.
Investigator Walden said she will be discussing the case with District Attorney Danny Craig and might pursue additional charges against Mr. Kitchens.
Investigator Walden said Mr. Kitchens told police he took the fuel because "gas is high, man."
Reach Adam Folk at (706) 823-3339 or adam.folk@augustachronicle.com.
'GAS IS HIGH, MAN'
Q: How much gasoline would $29,220 buy, anyway?
A: At $3 a gallon, $29,220 would buy 9,740 gallons, enough to fill up a full-size pickup truck with a 26-gallon tank about 375 times.
Comments
I can't wait to hear the lies told on this one.
I don't care what you do for a living, or how good you have it...deep down, each one of you wish you had THAT card!!!! LOL
MAN...if I couldn't hit the lottery, that would be the next best thing!
You would think the credit card would have been cancelled when it was stolen........
to spotted assassin, no deep down the bottom line is that is stealing and being it was a government card, you get to help
pay for the purchases the theif made with it. Deep down I don't
want anything that doesn't belong to me!
don't taze me, bro.
now he will get to wash cars and do the maintence for the gov. while serving time..........and no assassin I dont want to steal from the gov or anyone else for that matter. I enjoy my freedom.....your display name says it all
This is nothing like hitting the lottery. It's just like stealing. I'm not envious.
Whew, I had to check my wallet. My Gov't card only has a $10,000 limit.
I agree HONEST.... If they were aware in august (five months ago), why wasn't the account cancalled?
Now that's our intelligent Federal Government at work....you and I would have reported the card stolen and deactivated it, Another thing, my fellow tax payers, he didn't steal from the 'government', he stole from us!
Augusta version of trunk monkey.
And instead of attempting to find the one who actually stole the card and get him off the military bases, we will just blame the one who used the crap out of the card given to him. Sounds like lazy police work. And how about the "smart" criminal mind, at some point his conscience should have said, "hey man, I could get caught". Smart criminals don't get caught, only the stupid ones do. Oh wait they are all stupid in their own "special way".
I seriously doubt the government will really be responsible for paying this money back. And i think spotted assassin was just making light of the situation.
I seriously doubt the government will really be responsible for paying this money back. And i think spotted assassin was just making light of the situation.
I see it as just another slug doing what those kinds of people do. Steal and rob instead of working and being productive. Jail would be good for him and he can sit and watch the cars go by.
REALLY!!!Thanks Panther. But it makes you think...how is that most gas stations in the area are selling gas for $2.90 a gallon, and 1 store can afford to sell it at $1.50 for 1 day? We're getting robbed on a daily basis.
I wish I had that card! LOL Heck, I wish I could talked those gas truckers into filling up a few drums I have laying around the yard! I'm just being HONEST! hehe
Each of those cards are issued out to either a unit or person why isn't that person being questioned on this. It looks like another government cover up and a case of I don't care its the governments problem..Sorry That money is coming out of your pocket everytime you cash your pay check you should give more pride than what I read here. You all think of number one and don't look where its actually coming from. Pay your taxes and give the man a get out of jail card free for thats all you have done...
justus, please say you are kidding?
Card was never canceled because the person that gave it to him owed him money(if the story is true) and didn't want that dude coming after him.Still pretty idiotic on both parts!If your going to be stupid you gotta be tough!!Justus4 are you related to the suspect??
The card was not cancelled because the "audit" of such things get caught in the beaurocracy. It's the gov't at it's best. You know, $500 toilet seats. Hey. let's turn Healthcare over to them.
The family and friends who used this card are probably real proud of themselves. They should do time right along with Levi Kitchens.
justus4 never jokes. He is dead serious. This is NOT levi's fault.
The usual from justus
He have suffered 'nough? BS. You must be in the brotherhood of criminals, if you believe that one. Prove bias! What a dope.
Oh, where do I begin ?? Levi - I think you might have been huffing a little too much paint. What an initial response. Justus4 - I think you are a lost cause -- everything is not about how the black people are being abused. You must've not read my responses the last two days about the WHITE excrement that killed the innocent hiker. Now that they have the card, they will go back to Dobbins, and nail that person too. My hunch is that person at Dobbins had to be filing paperwork so the card would still be active. While I agree that this crime is non-violent, I don't want Mr. Kitchens looking at cars going by -- I want him cutting grass, picking up trash, or benefiting society while consumes space at the jail.
Okay, being a gov't employee, and hearing about how they investigated another stolen card, they don't cancel it because they want to track the transactions to get the person who is using it. At the same time they run an investigation to determine if it was stolen from the person/division/unit that it was assigned to. Once the person using the card is caught, they can use that person to backtrack and find out who he received it from.
The investigation was probably centered around Robbins AFB, so with the perp doing the Augusta area, the investigators probably looked at an area like the ATL before coming this way, but in this age of computer tech, It should have been picked up and noted within a few days. Hey, we went to Iraq after it was determined that Bin Laden hit us from Afganistan, so sometimes we do things in an around about way.
swolf, and that takes long enough for $29,000 to be spent?? The quick and the dead.
jus doin what come natural..................
I work within the government and I can tell you the government charge card is a very very very much mis-managed system in place for personnel working for the federal government.
It may have taken less time than you think. A common scam now is to stand at the pump with your stolen card and fill people up on the card for a cash consideration. My issue with this is that my Govt. fuel card requires the mileage of the vehicle and an individual user PIN number, otherwise it's pretty much useless.
Why was the card never cancelled. First thing NORMAL people do when they find their card is missing is cancelling it. I believe it was an inside job and whom ever the card belongs to needs to be questioned as well. Im pretty sure they arent just realizing they are missing the card. And why didnt anyone find it weird that the amound of money charged on the card were large amounts. Someone please help the government its an inside job.
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