Christopher Bradford, 23, of 304 6th St.

Wednesday, October 06, 1999

Christopher Bradford, 23, of 304 6th St. SW, has been arrested and charged in connection with the theft of money from a convenience store.

According to an Austin Police Department report, Bradford faces charges stemming from the theft of a money bag containing a large amount of money from Ankeny’s No. 6 at 501 1st Ave. SW.

The theft occurred at closing time late Monday evening, when a clerk left the front of the store for a moment and a bag was taken from a drawer behind the counter.

The store’s surveillance tape captured an individual coming and going from the store earlier in the evening. When Austin police investigators viewed the tape, they identified Bradford as a possible suspect.

When information from a female companion of Bradford’s was given the investigators Tuesday, officers went to his southwest Austin apartment.

Bradford left the apartment via a bedroom window, but returned later. In the meantime, police found $792 inside a metal case and the store’s money bag atop a refrigerator.

Bradford was taken to the law enforcement center for questioning, but he refused to give a statement.

While at the LEC, officers searched the case and discovered a panel for a hidden storage space. Inside the space, they found six "rock" crack cocaine parcels.

The store’s owner positively identified the money bag retrieved from Bradford’s apartment. Bradford was placed in jail while the Mower County Attorney reviews the evidence with a court appearance to come.

Van, bicycle accident

A bicyclist, Howard Majerus, 52, Austin, refused medical treatment after being struck by a van Tuesday afternoon in southwest Austin.

According to an Austin Police Department report, Majerus was astride a bicycle when he stopped at the intersection of 4th Street and 2nd Ave. SW.

Majerus told the investigator, he saw an approaching van, identified as a vehicle belonging to the Salvation Army Austin Corps, approaching the intersection with his turn signal activated.

Majerus presumed the van would turn and entered the intersection, but the van continued forward and struck him.

The driver of the van which stopped after the collision was identified as Ron Houff, 77, Austin. He was uninjured.

The mishap occurred at 4:24 p.m. Tuesday, according to the police report.

Beware of Y2K schemes

An elderly Austin woman almost became the victim of a telemarketing scheme.

According to an Austin Police Department report, the woman visited the Austin – Mower County Law Enforcement Center Monday to report what happened to her.

She was called by a telemarketer, who offered to sell her protection for her credit cards.

The caller also warned against Y2k dangers in the year 2000 that could impact on her credit card accounts.

She believed the caller and gave him her credit card numbers and paid $289 plus a $9.95 processing fee for the protection services.

When she later thought about what she had done, she realized she may have been a victim of year 2000-related fraud and went to the LEC to report the incident.

Austin Police Chief Paul M. Philipp repeated his cautions to the public after the incident. "Don’t give out your credit card numbers to anyone; especially to people you don’t know," Philipp said. "This is another one of those sad situations. The woman was greatly embarrassed by what she did and, fortunately, she called her credit card companies and they credited her account which already had registered the protection purchases."

"Just hang up," Philipp said of telemarketer calls.

Concerns about possible year 2000 computer problems present opportunities for criminals to defraud customers of banks, thrifts and credit unions.

No bank, thrift, credit union or credit card issuer will call to request account numbers, personal identification numbers or other accounting information for year 2000-related purposes.

They already have this information.

For more information about the year 2000-related fraud schemes, contact Austin police or the Mower County Sheriff’s Department at 437-9400.