Three Arrested For Using Stolen Cards from Heartland Hack

A three month joint investigation by the Leon County Sheriffs Office, Tallahassee Police Department and the United States Secret Service has resulted in the arrest of three people and shut down a major theft ring which was associated with the Heartland Payment Systems stolen credit cards.

Tony Acreus, Jeremy Frazier and Timothy Johns were arrested last week after using stolen credit card numbers to make fraudulent purchases at local Wal-Mart stores. During this joint investigation, it was determined that Acreus, Frazier and Johns have been using stolen credit card numbers to electronically encode VISA Gift Cards which were then used to make fraudulent purchases at local businesses, including several Tallahassee Wal-Marts. The group would then sell the fraudulently obtained merchandise for cash. The stolen credit card numbers utilized by the group were stolen from the Heartland Processing Center in New Jersey. The total actual and declined fraudulent transaction in Leon County is currently in excess of $100,000. This amount is expected to be much higher as this investigation continues.

Wal-Mart loss prevention officials were an active partner during this investigation, providing surveillance video of the suspects and other support to law enforcement. This investigation is on-going and will likely produce additional charges and additional arrests. Detectives will also attempt to identify and notify any person whose credit card number was comprised by this group. LCSO, TPD and USSS will be working with other jurisdictions to assist them with any crimes perpetrated by this group outside of Leon County.

Sheriff Larry Campbell of the Leon County Sheriff's department in Tallahassee, Florida said this cooperative investigation between local and federal law enforcement has effectively shut down a complex and far reaching criminal enterprise. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to take these criminals off our streets.

One of the men, Timothy John is being charged for 198 counts of fraud.

During the Heartland Payment Systems intrusion last year, over 100 million credit and debit card numbers were taken. Heartland immediately took a number of steps to further secure its systems. In addition, Heartland will implement a next-generation program designed to flag network anomalies in real-time and enable law enforcement to expeditiously apprehend cyber criminals.