Click here to subscribe today or Login.
KINGSTON — An 18-year-old released from Luzerne County’s lockup Wednesday morning was arrested that night after police allege he used a lost bank card to buy doughnuts and other items at a gas station.
Tyrese Jordan Derrick-Wilson, of Shamokin, was released on $2,000 unsecured bail after he appeared before a county judge on an arrest warrant for failing to appear for a preliminary hearing Dec. 20, court records say.
But the teen’s freedom proved to be short-lived.
At about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, he used a lost bank card to purchase doughnuts, an energy drink and a baseball hat at a station on Market Street, according to a criminal complaint.
Police traced the bank card to its owner, Connor Stone, who claimed he lost it while patronizing McDonald’s on East Northampton Street, Wilkes-Barre, on Wednesday, the complaint says.
Derrick-Wilson allegedly told police he found a wallet containing the bank card in the restroom at McDonald’s.
According to the complaint:
Police stopped a vehicle leaving the parking lot of Budget Inn on Wyoming Avenue due to items hanging from the rear-view mirror.
Derrick-Wilson was a passenger in that vehicle.
As police were identifying the occupants, they learned Derrick-Wilson was released from the county correctional facility and had a warrant issued for him April 23 by Shamokin police.
Derrick-Wilson told police he was attempting to obtain a room at the Budget Inn but the motel would not rent him a room without identification. He claimed he was getting a ride to a friend’s house to stay for the night when the vehicle was stopped.
Police located a wallet in Derrick-Wilson’s pocket. Inside, they found a bank card in Stone’s name.
When Stone was contacted, police learned he had just lost his wallet at McDonald’s.
Derrick-Wilson was charged with two counts of access device fraud. He was arraigned Thursday by District Judge James Tupper in Luzerne County Central Court and locked up again for lack of $5,000 bail.