Joshua K. Pinney dressed in a costume in order to impersonate a man and steal his debit card. Court documents show that Pinney, 30, went into a Bank of America branch in Des Moines back on June 26 dressed in the outfit seen in the picture at the top of this post. The manager at the bank realized the outfit was a costume and called police, according to Des Moines KOMO.
According to prosecutors, Pinney showed the bank manager an identification card of an Oregon man and then asked to be issued a new debit card. The man pictured in the ID is a client of Bank of America who recently had his car and identification stolen. The man in the ID had his account flagged after his ID went missing so no one could use it.
The branch manager was told by Pinney that he was on a business trip in Washington and was in need of a new debit card. Then Pinney asked if he could sit down and asked for water because he was in pain from a car accident. The court documents show that Pinney told the same story to police officers when they questioned him upon arriving at the bank. He repeatedly told police that he needed to replace his debit card.
After a police officer looked at the ID, he looked at Pinney and asked the man if he was serious when he tried to pass for the man in the ID’s picture. Pinney then bowed his head and said, “I know.” When Pinney was arrested the officer found Pinney’s real ID and the Social Security card of the victim in his wallet. Pinney then told the officer that he was never involved in a car accident and that the bandages on his body were not real.
The court documents show that Pinney blamed the entire idea on his girlfriend, who was reportedly waiting outside the bank for him. The suspect told officers that he met his girlfriend while he was on work release last year and that she is a ‘computer whiz’ because she could open bank accounts on the internet.
Police said that Pinney received the stolen ID and Social Security card from a friend of his brother, who stole the items from a car in Tacoma. Pinney was charged with second-degree identity theft and was supposed to make his first court appearance on Thursday but did not appear for the hearing.