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Affidavit sheds light on probe into credit-, gift-card scam plaguing Market Basket stores

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Markanthony Feliciano confers with a public defender just prior to his Thursday arraignment at Strafford County Superior Court. (Lebanon Voice photo)

COPYRIGHT2017© ROCHESTER - Rochester Police may have disrupted a major credit- and gift-card scam this week when they arrested two New York men.

The biggest break in the case came on Wednesday when police arrested

Markanthony Feliciano, 23, of 875 Morrison Ave., Apt. #16E, the Bronx. He was arrested shortly after 2:30 p.m. after police got a call from a Market Basket manager who said a man who had bought a large amount of gift cards on Tuesday was back in the store doing the same thing.

As the man left the store on foot police were able to intercept him, and he was arrested on charges of driver's license prohibitions and felony falsifying physical evidence.

The falsifying physical evidence charge was for allegedly trying to ditch the credit card and driver's license he'd used at the store; the driver's license prohibition charge related to his alleged use of a fake driver's license while attempting to buy the gift cards.

Rochester Police Capt. Jason Thomas said on Wednesday that the Secret Service had joined in the investigation.

Feliciano was released Thursday on $5,000 personal recognizance bail. According to his bail agreement, he agreed to monitoring by Strafford County Community Corrections, signed a waiver of extradition and promised to stay out of Market Basket.

According to a police affidavit, the investigation into the alleged scam began on Tuesday, when an officer was at the Route 11 Market Basket to buy lunch when he was stopped by an employee who said two men had been in the store making purchases using suspected stolen credit cards. The employee said the suspects had left their store and were currently at the Milton Road store. The officer was given photographs of the two men and a photo of the suspects' vehicle, a black Chevrolet with New York license plates.

Around this time, another officer spoke with Market Basket loss prevention personnel who said they were investigating 49 different transactions throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire that involved a pattern of large purchases of gift cards mixed with smaller grocery items using suspected stolen credit card information.

The loss prevention employee also gave police the two names used at Market Basket on the suspected phony credit cards and false IDs.

On Wednesday, a Rochester police officer went back to interview Market Basket personnel who described how the transaction at the Milton Road Market Basket went down the day before.

A clerk who said she had been warned that the two might be comings said she processed the transaction for the suspect later identified as Feliciano, who bought a number of $500 gift cards.

She also stated that the second male, later identified as Quamar Mclaurin, tried to purchase $1,100 in gift cards, but she intentionally stalled the process and the man got nervous, said he'd forgotten his credit card in the car and left. She said soon after that Feliciano grabbed the ID Mclaurin had left on the counter and left the store, too.

Then around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday police got an unexpected break when Market Basket called dispatch to advise that one of the suspects was back at the store trying to buy gift cards at the courtesy desk.

Upon responding to the area, two officers saw Feliciano "walking into the entrance from Farmington Road."

They immediately stopped and spoke to Feliciano, who denied he had just tried to buy gift cards at Market Basket and was on his way to get a bite to eat at the 110 Grill while he waited for his cousin who he said had been "apprehended" by police. He further explained to police that Quamar Mclarin, his cousin, had been held on $1,000 cash bail and that he was waiting for his family back home to put the money in his account so he could take his cousin home to New York.

One of the officers then spoke with the employee who handled the transaction with Feliciano just moment before, according to the affidavit. She told police that Feliciano had used one of the names and license IDs that the market's loss prevention personnel had said was suspect. She said he had left after she intentionally used the wrong bar code to stall the sale in hopes police would soon arrive.

The officer then came back and asked Feliciano again if he had just visited the store, which he denied.

The officer then asked Feliciano if he could look in his wallet, which he agreed to. Inside was an expired New York driver's license, for which Feliciano said he was waiting for a replacement.

The officer then asked if he had any more IDs or cards in his pockets, which Feliciano denied again. However, after agreeing to let officers search his pockets, they found a current New York license, cash and a Chevrolet car key fob.

Feliciano, who earlier had said he took an Uber ride to The Ridge, was asked again if he had, in fact, driven there. Feliciano again said no.

The officer then pressed a button on the key fob and a car nearby beeped.

The car and New York plate number were confirmed to be the same as were spotted Tuesday, according to the affidavit.

As the officer and Feliciano were conversing, the second officer walked along a path where Feliciano had been walking at The Ridge and recovered a Pennsylvania license and credit card that had been earlier named by Market Basket loss prevention, the affidavit stated.

Mclarin was arrested Tuesday on charges unrelated to the alleged credit card scam. He was charged with marijuana possession and sworn falsification for allegedly lying to the bail commissioner after his arrest.

Strafford County Jail personnel were not immediately available today to confirm whether or not Mclarin has made bail.

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