(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 22-year-old man who was originally charged with financially exploiting a vulnerable adult while employed as a caregiver has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of taking a debit card, court records showed today.
Harrison Leon Thomas Jr., 22, who formerly lived in Stillwater, but now lists his address in Houston, was placed on two years’ probation under a deferred sentence by District Judge Phillip Corley on Friday, Court Clerk Lori Allen told KUSH today.
The victim, who resides in Roxie Weber Plaza, “reported someone took Xbox game WWE 2K14 from his game console in his room,” Stillwater Police Detective Richard Leport wrote in an affidavit.
The victim “also reported someone used his BancFirst debit card to make unauthorized transactions at Hastings and Game Stop,” and “named his caregiver, Harrison Thomas, as a possible suspect,” the affidavit said.
The victim, who has a physical handicap and uses a wheelchair, “has difficulty communicating so he uses a computer to type messages,” the affidavit said. He lives independently “with assistance from caregivers provided by Stillwater Group Homes,” the affidavit said.
On March 31, 2014, the detective was contacted by a BancFirst representative who reported two fraudulent transactions had been made using the victim’s debit cards, the affidavit said.
The first was at Hastings on N. Main Street in Stillwater for $326.43 at 5:54 pm. on March 3, 2014, and the second was at Game Stop on N. Perkins Road in Stillwater for $217.62 at 10:12 a.m. on March 14, 2014, the affidavit said.
On April 1, 2014, the detective reviewed Hastings’ surveillance video which showed a college-age black male using a stolen debit card to purchase a WiiU game console, the affidavit said.
That day, the detective met the victim at his apartment where his caregiver was present, the affidavit said.
The detective wrote in his affidavit “I recognized him as the person making the fraudulent debit card transaction,” at Hastings in Stillwater.
During an interview, the caregiver said that he had used the man’s debit card “to purchase a WiiU at Hastings and a Play Station 3 at Game Stop,” the affidavit said.
“Harrison Thomas told me he took (the man’s) debit card from the computer table each time to make the purchases, then returned it,” the detective wrote in his affidavit.
“Harrison Thomas acknowledged he did not have permission to make the purchases at Hastings and Game Stop,” the affidavit said.
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