Police: Three Professional Shoplifters Nabbed in New Canaan

An observant employee at Walgreen's in New Canaan alerted police Monday to an attempt at fraudulently buying gift cards, resulting in the arrests of three young South Carolina people, police said.

Nothing was taken from Walgreens, but the trio appear to have been perpetrating the same fraud in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, according to New Canaan police.

New Canaan Police Chief Leon Krolikowski issued this news release (with accusations not proven in court) Tuesday morning (Patch has made minor editorial style changes):

On [Monday] July 21, at approximately 9:36 p.m., New Canaan Officers responded to Walgreens, 36 Pine St., on a report that one black male and two black females were at the store and attempting to commit a fraud.

The suspects were attempting to purchase gift cards, with gift cards, which is usually a sign of criminal activity.

Subsequently, the suspect vehicle was stopped in the Walgreens parking lot. The suspect vehicle was searched and valuable, suspected fraudulently obtained merchandise was seized.

It appears that the suspects were involved in similar schemes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The New Canaan Police Department will coordinate ongoing investigations with other jurisdictions where the below suspects may have committed additional crimes.

The investigation shows that the suspects were attempting to commit a larceny by fraud. The three suspects below were arrested and taken into custody.

The three arrestees are:

• Brett R. Harvey, 28, of 501 Kenton Dr., Irmo, SC

• Channa Nicole Holloway, 26, of 125 Rosewood Ln., Lexington, SC

• Tarkeisha L. Valentine, 25, of 520 Kershaw Street, Aiken, SC

The three arrestees were charged with: sixth-degree conspiracy to commit larceny.

Harvey has extensive criminal history in Georgia and South Carolina with many arrests for forgery.

The bonds for Holloway and Valentine were set at $2,500.00 and the bond for Harvey was set at $5,000.00.

All three arrestees are being transported to Norwalk Superior Court where they will be arraigned.