Earlier this week, The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office announced that a Monmouth County Grand Jury has returned a 52-count indictment against a former gas station attendant charged with stealing thousands dollars from more than a dozen customers during the course of his work shifts.
Forty-eight year-old Patrick A. Brown of Newark is charged with 13 counts apiece of third-degree Credit Card Fraud, third-degree False Uttering, third-degree Theft, and fourth-degree Credit Card Theft.
An investigation revealed that the thefts took place during a limited amount of time in August 2023, with each following a similar pattern. Brown would accept a credit card or debit card from a customer at the Wawa on U.S. Route 9 North, then quickly swipe it through an attached device on his personal phone, funneling hundreds of dollars at a time into a bank account he controlled, before using the card to pay for the legitimate orders of gasoline.
Brown was criminally charged the same week as the report of the initial theft, then charged with more offenses as additional victims became known. His next appearance in Monmouth County Superior Court is scheduled for May 6.
