Criminal Charges, Volume XLVI: Thieves leave behind cards at crime scenes

For most credit card thieves, the goal is to take cards rather than leave them behind.

However, the criminals in this week's look at card misconduct managed to forget business and credit cards at the scene of their crimes. I'm sure the police appreciate their help.

Thief's business card left at crime scene: 'You name it, I can do it'
A gang of New York thieves has been charged with carrying out a multistate crime wave, allegedly breaking into chain stores in their home state, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

But the group also left behind a calling card. According to federal prosecutors, one its members apparently forgot a business cards at the scene of a crime. "The card bearing the name of Anthony Kalika, 19, of Staten Island, listed his proficiency at trades like electrical wiring and plumbing," the New York Daily News reports. "'You name it, I can do it,' read the card, which was found in a car abandoned at the scene of one burglary."

Kalika was among a group of nine men from Brooklyn and Staten Island, N.Y., who were charged with crimes including burglary, extortion, credit card theft, marijuana trafficking and identity theft following a series of nighttime break-ins at chains stores such as Best Buy and Petco. A report from the New York FBI identified the men as Artem Cherne, Yevgeny Dynkin, Andrew Burban, Anton Husyev, Leonid Vodvozov, Aleh Masalakov, Robert Wojicki, and Roman Likhadziyevski and Kalika.

Just what else Kalika could "do" allegedly included participation in the kidnapping at gunpoint of a Staten Island pot dealer on Nov. 15, 2008. Authorities say five gang members attempted to extort drugs and money from the man, with Kalika placing handcuffs on him. The gang then took their victim to a Staten Island beach where they staged a mock execution, forcing the man to his knees, threatening to kill him and firing a round into the air, according to news reports and the FBI.

The Staten Island Advance reports that following a break-in at a store in Greenburg, N.Y., the gang's burglary scheme began to unravel. "A residential neighbor of a Best Buy heard grinding and saw sparks flying when the bandits used a power saw to cut the store's door in half, according to Detective Sgt. Frank Pumillo of the Greenburgh Police Department," the Advance reports.

Although those members involved fled the scene, one of the gang -- Yevgeny Dynkin -- left his car behind. When another officer realized he had pulled that car over earlier in the evening on a traffic stop, the Greenburgh police got a search warrant for the vehicle, the paper reports.

That car contained enough evidence for the case's lead detective to help create a pin-map of past Best Buy burglaries, leading to a four-month investigation involving more than a dozen law enforcement agencies.

Bungling burglars flee, but forget ID
Consumers may be slowing their credit card purchases, but burglars are apparently still using plastic to pick locks.

Police in Kosciusko County, Ind., arrested Jeffrey Alan Reffettt and Joshua Phillip Geberin on the morning of June 17 after one of the men accidentally left behind his credit card at a home the two men were allegedly trying to burglarize.

At around 4:30 a.m. that morning, "sheriff's department deputies responded to a 911 call of an attempted break-in at a residence in Etna Green. The homeowner told police that he had scared off the suspects, but one of them had dropped a credit card," Wane.com reports."Police believe the credit card had been used to try and jimmy the door open."

According to The Journal Gazette, "The credit card was left at the door, which led police to two suspects within 20 minutes, the sheriff's department said in a statement." Police found the two bungling burglars at a gas station.