Man allegedly opens fraudulent account in woman’s name; Has previous history of transaction card fraud

Published 8:41 am Friday, December 7, 2018

Tracy

Jonathan Richard Tracy, 34, of Austin was charged on Tuesday in Mower County District Court with felony financial transaction card fraud-use without consent and felony financial transaction card fraud-forged/false/fictitious/false name.

According to the court complaint, a woman went to the Mower County Law Enforcement Center on Nov. 28 to report that a fraudulent credit card had been opened in her name. She received a bill from Capital One that morning and was told a card had been opened in her name on March 20 when she called about it. She suspected Tracy had opened the account because he had previously used her debit card without her permission.

While at the LEC, she called Capital One with an officer present, the complaint states. The Capital One representative advised the account had been opened on March 20 and was “charged off” on Nov. 15. The representative also said there was a second card on the account issued in the name of “Jonathan R. Tracy.” The representative gave the email and phone number associated with the account. The woman recognized the email as Tracy’s and the phone number as Tracy’s mother.

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The complaint states the woman provided documentation that the balance on the account’s final statement was $1,261.98, including transaction fees, past due fees, and interest. All of the charges occurred from March 26 through April 6 and were made using the card issued to “Jonathan R. Tracy.”

Later that day, the woman emailed police and said she had spoken to Tracy at the Mower County Jail. She said he admitted to opening the account, apologized, and said he would pay her back, according to the complaint. Police reviewed the recorded jail phone call, in which Tracy said he could work off the debt after he got out of jail and indicated the crime was due to his drug addiction. Tracy declined to give a statement to police.

A review of Tracy’s criminal record shows a prior conviction for financial transaction card fraud-use without consent.

Tracy will appear in court again on Dec. 17.