A 68-year-old Linton man was in Greene Superior Court for an initial hearing Sept. 15 following his Sept. 12 arrest on a preliminary felony theft charge.

Feb. 7, Senior Trooper Richard Klun of the Indiana State Police was contacted by a subject stating he believed his Best Buy card had been hacked/stolen as he had been made aware of a recent purchase he had not made himself. Klun, who was off duty at the time, told the subject he would follow up but he should contact Best Buy to cancel the transaction. The subject contacted Klun again the following day stating the transaction could not be canceled as the package had already been shipped. Klun advised the subject to print all documents he had so he could look at them. When en route to the Bloomington FexEx facility, Klun received a call from Bloomfield Town Marshal Kenny Tharp. Tharp had been contacted by the subject’s wife, who was unaware Master Trooper Klun was actively working the case.

The address listed on the shipping label was not that of the address of the subject’s card used for the purchase. Marshal Tharp traveled to the residence at which the package was supposed to be delivered on Feb 8. There he found William Walter Lawrence, Jr. waiting on the shipment of a laptop. Lawrence advised Tharp that once he received the laptop, his girlfriend was going to send him information so that he could take the package to FedEx and then have it shipped to her in New York.

Marshal Tharp advised Klun that he had contacted a FedEx employee who had put a stop on the package, and he also advised Lawrence that the laptop he was supposed to receive was part of a credit card fraud ring. Marshal Tharp advised Walter that he believed this was part of a scam and that should the package get delivered, he was to contact law enforcement.

Klun spoke with the subject whose card was allegedly fraudulently used to purchase the laptop and asked him to watch his statements and let him know that the package was in fact returned. On Feb. 9, the subject contacted Klun, stating the package had been delivered to the address where Marshal Tharp spoke with Walter the day prior.

Klun drove to the residence to speak with Walter. When asked if he had received a laptop from FedEx, he told Klun he had. Walter gave the officer permission to enter the residence to speak with him. Once inside of the residence, Klun observed an unopened box sitting on a chair in the middle of the room. Klun explained to Walter that the package wasn’t supposed to have been delivered but Walter told Klun that according to the name on the packaging, it was supposed to be there. Klun looked at the box and confirmed it was the one the subject he had been speaking with. The box had the subject’s name and phone number on it with the address of Lawrence. When asked Walter if he knew the subject, he said that he did not, but it was his girlfriend's friend’s dad. Klun then explained to Walter that he knew the subject and that the package was not his girlfriend’s friend’s dad. Walter also advised that he was going to be shipping the package to New York. This was directly against the order that Marshal Tharp had given him.

A warrant was issued for Lawrence’s arrest on Aug. 30 and he was arrested on Sept. 12. His bond was set at $4000 surety with 10% cash allowed. Indiana Conservation Officer Dustin Cary was the arresting officer.