Butler man charged with identity theft
An alleged identity thief was caught with more than 20 counterfeit $20 bills, Butler police said, after he allegedly tried to buy a motor scooter by using another man's personal information.
Police on Friday arrested Todd M. Grudzinsky, 22, of Butler on felony charges of forgery and identity theft, and a misdemeanor charge of receiving stolen property.
A call about 3:30 p.m. that day to the Cycle Warehouse on South Main Street in Butler launched the police investigation, authorities said.
An employee told Patrolman Andrew Niederlander that a man had been in the shop and on the telephone attempting to obtain a bank loan to buy a three-wheel scooter, according to court documents, valued at $6,300.
But the man, later identified as Grudzinsky, left while still waiting for word if he got the loan, the employee recounted.
The bank subsequently contacted store representatives saying they believed the suspect “was not who he claimed to be,” Niederlander said in his affidavit, “and that he was using someone else's identity.”
Police were notified and officers had Cycle Warehouse contact Grudzinsky, and advise him that he needed to come to the store.
Niederlander, in the meantime, spoke by telephone to the man who the defendant purported to be, and learned that he lives in North Carolina.
That man advised police that while he was in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in 2017, his wallet was stolen. Since then, the victim said, someone had been using his credit cards and identification.
Grudzinsky eventually returned to the cycle shop where police were waiting. He was taken to the station and searched.
In the defendant's wallet, documents said, police found four credit cards, a Social Security card, a North Carolina driver's license and other personal IDs, all belonging to the victim.
Niederlander said the suspect also was found with 21 counterfeit $20 bills.
“Grudzinsky admitted to taking (the victim's) wallet in South Carolina,” the affidavit said, “and using (the man's) identity to attempt to purchase the scooter from Cycle Warehouse.”
District Judge Kevin O'Donnell arraigned the defendant, who was placed in the Butler County Prison on $20,000 bail.
