Alleged Scammer Faces Charges Throughout State

A New York man was recently apprehended after allegedly employing a sophisticated fraudulent scheme to make off with thousands of dollars worth of booze from liquor stores across New Jersey over the past year.

One of his alleged stops was The Bottle Stop on Roseland Avenue.

Lasean Harps, under the alias of Mark Mobley, allegedly purchased $561 worth of alcohol with a fraudulent credit card on March 11 from the liquor store at 153 Roseland Ave., Caldwell Detective/Sgt. Tony Marta said Tuesday.

After a two-month investigation, Marta received a break in the case when Harps was apprehended committing a similar incident in Union Township.

Union police responded to a report of a possible credit card fraud in progress at a local business on May 6. The suspect, who identified himself as Mobley and presented a counterfeit Georgia driver's license, was apprehended and later identified through fingerprint analysis as Harps.

The following day, Springfield police charged Harps for allegedly purchasing more than $1,600 worth of alcohol with a fraudulent credit card from a local liquor store in April.

According to Springfield Police, Harps allegedly purchased top shelf vodka, cognac, scotch and gin, as well as a number of cases of beer from Milton's Liquors on Morris Avenue on April 23.

He allegedly explained to a store clerk that the large purchase was for a bachelor party that night at Robert Treat Hotel in Newark.

Similar to the Caldwell incident, Springfield Police said Harps used the identity of Mobley to purchase the alcohol with a stolen credit card number. As he did at The Bottle Stop, Harps pretended to call the credit card company and issued the Springfield clerk a series of numbers that enabled the transaction to appear to be authorized, Springfield Police said.

After Harps left the store, the employee contacted the Newark hotel, which did not have any record of a party large enough to require that amount of alcohol. In addition, the employee discovered the credit card belonged to someone from Austria, who reported the number had been compromised, Springfield Police said.

The Springfield Police issued a statewide alert of the incident to other law enforcement agencies and Harps has since been linked to similar crimes in more than 12 other New Jersey municipalities, Marta said.

In addition to security camera footage, Harps was identified through a photo array as the man who allegedly committed the fraudulent purchase from The Bottle Stop, Marta said.

Caldwell Police charged Harps, 35, of Long Island City, on Wednesday with identity theft, credit card fraud and theft by deception for the March incident.

The third-degree indictable offenses against Harps, who is being held at the Hudson County Correctional Center on other charges, has been referred to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.

Springfield Patch Editor Adam Bulger contributed to this story.