UK_Seahawk":u82b397f said:
The officer said Rawls used a stolen credit card from the purse to buy sub sandwiches at a casino sub shop and the group later bought $33.77 worth of gas with a debit card from the stolen purse.[/i]
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This part of the story is not correct, per the police report. Rawls used his own credit card to pay for the sandwiches, which is how the police tracked him down. His friend allegedly used the woman's credit card from the purse to pay for gas later. This $33.77 charge for gas is the only charge mentioned in the police report. Rawls says he never went through the purse himself or used the credit card on anything. Logically, if the friend put the purse directly into a bag and then left the casino, it doesn't make sense that they would have used the credit card in the casino. I presume this blog article that you reference has simply confused the existing facts.
See the police report:
The suspect in the case used his credit card to buy subs in the sub shop prior to the incident. The name on the receipt was Thomas Rawls.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/239840914/Raw ... -complaint
Also, Rawls says he took the purse off the chair and set it on the floor to sit on the chair, but denies handing it to the friend who placed it in a bag. We would have to see the video to know for sure, but there does appear to be some reasonable doubt here. Either way, it seems likely that he knew this theft had occurred and acted as an accomplice, hence his misdemeanor attempted larceny conviction.