Gilbert, AZ: According to court documents filed on Wednesday, a cohort of burglars stole stuff from various lockers at Planet Fitness establishments in Gilbert and assumed the identity of a physician to obtain prescription medications.
According to investigators, the involvement of three suspects has been reported, however, only two individuals, namely 23-year-old Helena Whatcott and her boyfriend, 23-year-old Mohamed Sheikh Salim, have been identified and apprehended.
According to court records, Salim and another individual, a male, attempted to enter Planet Fitness located at McQueen Road and Guadalupe Road on November 6th. They proceeded to check in at the desk using membership cards that did not belong to them.
Whatcott proceeded to assert that she lacked a membership, nevertheless, she was inquiring about the well-being of her mother, who was situated in the locker room.
Multi-State Identity Theft Ring Members Indicted In Arizona; 6 Face Federal Sentence
Whatcott departed from the gym approximately 10 minutes later. According to the police, the guy and Salim proceeded to steal items valued at approximately $500 from a locker belonging to a gym member.
Tony Bucio, the club manager of the Planet Fitness branch, promptly contacted the police upon receiving a report of the theft from the victim.
Bucio stated that the gym is well-known. Individuals deposit their wallets into their designated locker and proceed to securely fasten the lock, then absconding with the items.
Investigators reported that shortly thereafter, the trio proceeded to Planet Fitness located on Gilbert Road and Warner Road, where they pilfered a wallet from a locker.
According to the police, the man and Whatcott utilized the victim’s credit cards in a supermarket in Chandler, amounting to around $765.
On December 8, the group assumed the role of a doctor and requested a prescription for promethazine from the CVS located within the Target store on Gilbert Road and Germann Road, as reported by the police. Whatcott retrieved it.
According to the police, a guy contacted the pharmacy to retrieve the remaining medication, alleging that his wife had already obtained the initial portion of the prescription. According to the pharmacist, his wife needed to authenticate the doctor’s information.
Felony Human Smuggling Charges Against A Schaumburg Suspect After A Border Patrol Chase In Arizona
The pharmacy subsequently contacted the doctor whose name was mentioned, and he verified that he did not issue the prescriptions and that the prescription was counterfeit, as reported by the police.
According to police reports in May, Whatcott unlawfully appropriated a wallet from a shopping cart at the Fry’s located at Williams Field Road and Gilbert Road. Subsequently, he utilized the stolen wallet to make purchases at multiple locations, amounting to a total of $1,837.97.
On Tuesday, Whatcott and Salim were apprehended. According to court filings, both individuals asserted that they obtained the prescription from a third party. According to the police, both individuals confessed to their participation in the locker thefts.
About the stolen credit cards from the wallet, Whatcott asserted that she did not engage in the act of stealing another individual’s wallet, but rather utilized the credit cards belonging to her sister-in-law.
Salim is charged with two instances of third-degree burglary, one instance of identity theft, and one instance of unlawfully acquiring a prescription.
Whatcott is confronted with identical charges, in addition to six allegations of illicit utilization of a credit card and three allegations of credit card theft. The third individual under investigation remains unidentified and has not been apprehended.