Gainesville police say a 35-year-old Orlando man turned a local Target into his personal electronics warehouse, walking out with more than $26,000 in iPads, Nintendo Switch consoles, and other gear paid for with stolen credit cards.
According to investigators, Rico Martino Michel was first flagged by Target loss-prevention officers at the Archer Road store after he showed up multiple times and bought unusually large hauls of high-demand electronics. Staff noticed a pattern, detectives said, and the cards he was using reportedly did not match the name of the actual account holder.
Police say the main card in question belonged to a woman who had been tricked into mailing it after a caller convinced her that her bank had detected fraud. Starting June 11, that single card allegedly fueled $26,157.24 in purchases, mostly at the Archer Road Target, with additional buys at Best Buy, Ross, Burlington, Hibbett Sports, PetSmart, LongHorn Steakhouse, and Walmart…