BAYSIDE — A Bayside taxi driver has been charged with allegedly stealing two credit cards from a customer and using them to make hundreds of dollars of unauthorized purchases, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Richard Johnson, 43, of 210-50 41st Ave., was being held on $3,500 bail as of Tuesday evening, after being arraigned Nov. 18 on charges of felony grand larceny, identity theft, attempted grand larceny and unlawful possession of personal identification information, the DA said.
Camilla Twisselman, 29, of Denver, Colo., told police she left her American Express and MasterCard credit cards in a cab at 41st Avenue and Bell Boulevard on Oct. 17. Minutes later, Johnson was seen by the cashier at the NorBell service station at 45-05 Bell Blvd., buying two cartons of cigarettes with Twisselman’s card, saying she was “a friend,” according to the DA.
Johnson allegedly repeated the ruse twice more that night, signing his full name on the receipts, but after the cards were reported stolen and the card was declined at the service station the following morning, he admitted to the clerk that he bought one credit card off of a woman for $50 and used the card to buy six cartons of cigarettes, according to the DA.
The total price of the purchases came to $709, according to the DA.
Johnson is scheduled to return to court Dec. 12.
