Man Charged After Defrauding Brookfield Sprint Store out of $70,000

BROOKFIELD -- A 41-year-old Milwaukee man faces multiple theft charges after police say he defrauded the Brookfield Sprint store out of more than $70,000 dollars as a store employee.

Theodore Harris now faces up to 28-and-a-half-years behind bars after being charged with six counts of felony identity theft and five charges of felony theft.

According to Harris' criminal complaint, a manager of the Sprint store located at 16075 Bluemound Road met with police regarding an ongoing fraud investigation into the actions of Harris.

According to the complaint, store management caught Harris setting up fraudulent lease accounts using personal information without the knowledge of the people who's information was being used.

These accounts included the use of birthdates, social security numbers, and some driver's license numbers. In many cases, the identities of out-of-state victims were used - only to have Harris quickly transfer the accounts to Milwaukee addresses where Harris used to live.

According to the criminal complaint, Harris racked up charges on the fraudulent lease accounts as follows:

1) $3,129 was charged to an account set up for a Florida resident on January 25, 2015.
2) $43,449 was charged to a Florida man who had never been to Brookfield on March 28, 2015.
3) $4,369 was charged to another Florida resident from an account set up March 18, 2015.
4) $5,674 was charged to a Florida resident from an account set up April 17.
5) $6,739 was charged a Florida resident from an account set up on March 5.
6) $4,764 was charged to an out-of-state resident from an account set up on March 6.
7) $2,789 was charged to a Florida man's account that was set up on March 22.

Harris is out on a $5,000 signature bond. His next appearance in court is Nov. 17.

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