Police: Men break into cars in EC, used stolen credit cards

Dan Holtz, The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis.
·2 min read

May 6—EAU CLAIRE — Three Florida men broke into several vehicles in Eau Claire in late April and then used stolen credit cards to buy gift cards, police say.

Alexander D. Barnum, 31, Treyvon J. Boyd, 28, and Izell L. Jeff, 30, all of Fort Lauderdale, face a total of 30 criminal charges in Eau Claire County Court, including felony counts of fraudulent use of a financial transaction card and misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property, entry into a locked vehicle and theft.

A cash bail of $5,000 was set for Barnum and Izell while a $3,000 cash bail was set for Boyd.

As conditions of bail, the three men cannot have contact with their victims, each other or any Walmart location in Wisconsin.

Barnum, Boyd and Izell return to court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing.

According to the criminal complaint:

Eau Claire police were sent Sunday, April 30, to a parking lot across the street form the Eau Claire YMCA in the 700 block of Graham Avenue for a report of multiple vehicles with windows broken out.

A police officer found three parked vehicles that all had a rear window smashed out. The owners of the three vehicles all discovered their purses were taken from the cars.

There was no video coverage of the parking area and no suspects were identified. But it was later learned that credit cards in one of the purses had already been used at the Eau Claire Walmart.

A second victim said there were credit cards and gift cards in her purse. The third victim said she had personal items in her purse but no financial cards that she was aware of.

One of the purses was later found in a dumpster behind an Eau Claire business.

Eau Claire police then learned that Barnum, Boyd and Jeff were suspects in Trempealeau County for similar cases there.

During the investigation, police discovered that several credit cards taken from one of the purses in the Eau Claire case were used to buy several Visa gift cards at the Eau Claire Walmart valued at $500 per card. The amount of money taken from the credit card to buy the gift cards totaled $4,544.

When Barnum, Boyd and Jeff were arrested by Jackson County authorities, they were found in possession of personal items belonging to two of the Eau Claire victims.

Eau Claire police learned the Trempealeau County victims had stolen credit cards used to buy gift cards at the Black River Falls Walmart.