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Jan. 10—A Reading man turned himself in on charges he stole nearly $45,000 in cellphones while employed at Verizon's Berkshire Mall store in 2021, according to court records.
James N. Raphael, 37, of the 500 block of Lancaster Avenue turned himself in on Monday, 14 months after being declared a fugitive. He remained free following arraignment on felony retail theft and conspiracy charges before District Judge Alvin B. Robinson in Reading Central Court.
According to the criminal complaint filed by Wyomissing police:
A Verizon fraud investigator contacted police in July 2021 after learning that two employees of the store had been opening accounts for individuals and giving them Verizon/Go Wireless cellphones, charging the individual only for the amount of taxes owed. The buyers were not charged the full amount of the phones. The employees then removed the phones from the network.
The other employee wasn't identified in the affidavit, and it was unclear if anyone else has been charged.
The investigation determined Raphael under-rang 44 phones to 15 customers for a combined retail value of $44,819. The thefts occurred between May 8 and July 27 of that year.
When the fraud investigator confronted Raphael about the transactions, describing it as fraud, Raphael reportedly replied that he didn't care because he was "out the door anyway."
A Wyomissing criminal investigator repeatedly tried to contact Raphael but was unsuccessful. He filed the charges on Aug. 25, 2021.
Two months later, the Berks County sheriff's office obtained an order declaring him a fugitive.
