Mpls. Man Accused of Charging $2,500 to Old Time Auto Business Card

Prosecutors accuse a Minneapolis man of using an business credit card number to ring up $2,500 in charges, according to court documents released Tuesday.

Matthew Thomas Tupa, 32, faces felony charges of check forgery and unauthorized use of a credit card.

George Caviness, owner of Old Time Auto, went to police April 11 to report several unauthorized credit card transactions on his business credit card account, according to charging documents written by Police Detective Renee Meuwissen.

Investigators found that Tupa used Caviness’ credit card 40 times between October 2011 and April 10, 2012—primarily to pay for hotel rooms at the Bloomington Days Inn, buy meals at local restaurants and add minutes to his cell phone.

Police also say Tupa stole and forged two checks. He cashed one $550 check May 2 at and cashed a $400 check the following day at the same store, according to charging documents.

Tupa admitted writing down the credit card number while he was working for Caviness and using the number for hotel rooms, meals and cell phone minutes. He also admitted taking the checks, forging them and cashing them.

If convicted, Tupa could be sentenced to as many as five years in prison and fined $10,000 for each charge.

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