'Quick-Change' Scam at APlus

An employee of the APlus convenience store on Route 51 (by Baldwin High School) called Whitehall Borough police at around 3:37 p.m. on Wednesday to report that the store had recently been scammed out of almost $60.

Whitehall police Deputy Chief Richard M. Danko said that the culprit, a "quick-change artist" whom he described as an older black male with a thin build wearing blue jeans, a short-sleeved brown shirt and a black baseball cap with a sticker on its bill, had paid for $1.81 of merchandise (including tax) from APlus with a $20 bill. After receiving his change, the man asked for his $20 back so that he could pay with a smaller bill. However, he kept his original change, and that process continued similarly until—through much confusion—he left the store with a profit of $58.19 after just a few minutes.

Whitehall police are investigating and working with APlus officials to obtain video surveillance footage of the incident.

Three Cases of Identity Theft

• A woman who lives in the 400 block of Lantern Hill Drive called Whitehall police on Wednesday to report that someone had made $250 of unauthorized charges in Colorado with her Dollar Bank debit account on April 26.
• A man who lives in the 500 block of Dunn Drive called Whitehall police on Saturday to report that someone had made $619.24 of unauthorized charges in Iowa with his Credit One Bank credit account on April 10.
• A man who lives in the 1100 block of Varner Drive called Whitehall police on Sunday to report that a CHASE representative had recently informed him of $3,500 worth of suspicious activity on his CHASE credit account at a variety of locations on Saturday, including a cash advance of $600. The man said that he was not aware that he had a CHASE credit account, however, and that someone must have used his personal information to fraudently open that account.

Unwelcome Solicitation

Whitehall police received complaints from numerous residents on Sunday regarding people coming to their homes and asking about the possibility of boarding there while they sell learning tools in the area.

Police identified some of the people, Danko said, as working for the company Southwestern Advantage. Danko said that Southwestern has never applied for a permit to solicit in Whitehall.

He said that Southwestern officials have arranged for approximately 20 students of The Florida State University to come to the Pittsburgh area to sell their learning tools.

Bluetooth Headsets Taken at Caste Village AT&T Store

The manager of the AT&T store at Caste Village called Whitehall police at around 10:30 a.m. on Monday to report that 10 Bluetooth headsets were missing from the store.

The manager said that the headsets were last seen by employees sometime the day before in a display rack located near the front entrance of the store.

Danko said that police are investigating the incident as possible shoplifting from the previous day that went unnoticed. There was no sign of forced entry to the store.

The headsets are valued at a total of $312.21.

1745 Skyline, Apt. 60, a Loud Place

Whitehall police officers came to Apt. 60 of 1745 Skyline Dr. in the Wallace (Prospect) Park area at around 5:15 p.m. on Saturday in response to a noise complaint.

Danko said that Whitehall police have come to that apartment seven times in recent memory in response to noise.

On Saturday, Steven Evans, 55, of that address, was cited for disorderly conduct due to loud music.

Read through other Whitehall police items here.

 ---

Follow the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch on Facebook and Twitter.

Sign up for the daily Baldwin-Whitehall newsletter.