After pleading guilty in May to drug and credit-card crimes, an Oak Hill teen-ager was sentenced recently to 13 months behind bars. He is Alexander Robles, 18, of 13434 Elevation Lane.
In September 2003, Fairfax County police charged him with six crimes — three drug offenses, two credit-card crimes and one obstruction of justice. Since then, four were dropped, but he was convicted of the remaining two — credit-card fraud and manufacturing and distributing a controlled substance.
In a Sept. 30 affidavit for a search warrant to seek illegally purchased goods in Robles' home, police Det. Cindy Lundberg noted that police found some of these items in Robles' home when they executed the warrant.
THE WHOLE thing began Sept. 9, when a man reported that he'd lost his wallet — containing several credit cards and cash — while walking in his neighborhood. He then began calling his credit-card companies to cancel his cards. But when he called to cancel his VISA card, he was told that someone had fraudulently used it at the Best Buy store in the Fair Lakes Shopping Center.
"Investigation revealed that the suspect used the stolen credit card to purchase numerous compact discs, digital video discs and PlayStation games for a total of $322.76," wrote Lundberg. "The suspect then went to Tweeter sound systems store [in] Fairfax and attempted to use the card to purchase over $600 worth of car stereo equipment."
But VISA denied the transaction, and the suspect left the store. The store manager provided police with a description of the suspect and the vehicle he was driving. Later, wrote the detective, the Tweeter store manager identified Robles as "the person who attempted to use the stolen credit card."
Lundberg also viewed surveillance video from the Best Buy store and wrote that it showed "Alexander Robles exiting the store after the fraudulent transaction. He was carrying a bag containing compact discs, digital video discs and PlayStation games."
Police had already charged him, earlier that month, with obstruction of justice, drug conspiracy and two counts of the manufacture and distribution of a controlled substance. Then on Sept. 30, they charged him with credit-card theft and credit-card fraud in connection with the incidents at Best Buy and Tweeter.
AFTER FOUR of the charges were later dropped, the grand jury indicted Robles, March 15, for the remaining drug and credit-card fraud offenses. He pleaded guilty May 19 in Circuit Court before Judge Leslie Alden and returned June 18 for sentencing.
At that time, he was given five years in prison, with four suspended, for the drug charge; and 12 months incarceration, with 11 months suspended, for the credit-card offense. That left Robles with a total of one year and one month to serve. He also lost his driving privileges for six months.