WESTFIELD–Westfield Police’s Detective Bureau issued an apology after identifying an “innocent shopper” as a possible suspect in a “stolen credit card incident.”
The Detective Bureau put up a comment on their Facebook page about the incident, and Westfield Police Capt. Michael McCabe also commented on the incident. The police were reportedly looking for someone who allegedly attempted to use a stolen credit card at Walmart. The card that was allegedly used shared the same last four numbers as the innocent shopper’s card and was done on the same day.
“Mistakes happen, but it certainly wasn’t intentional and it wasn’t malicious,” McCabe said of the incident. “Our apologies to the person involved.”
According to the Westfield Detective Bureau, the innocent shopper had made a purchase with their card on the same day as the alleged suspect attempted to use the stolen card for the same amount of money, in addition to having the same last four digits on each card. However, the expiration dates on the cards were different.
The bureau also reported that because the transaction with the alleged stolen credit card was declined, the purchase attempt was not tracked, and thus there is no photo of the alleged suspect at this time.
A photo was sent out on Facebook of the innocent shopper who was IDed as a suspect on Wednesday, but the post was later removed.
