Man found with counterfeit gift cards arrested

A man was arrested Monday night after he allegedly drove his vehicle into a fire hydrant, police said.

Officers responding to the crash allegedly found several fraudulent gift cards in the driver’s pockets.

Police found Edmound Nasiri, 26, of Glendale at about 6 p.m. in the driver’s seat of a white utility truck, which was atop a broken fire hydrant that was leaking water onto San Fernando Road and Sonora Avenue, according to Glendale police reports.

Nasiri, who had allegedly smoked a narcotic and was feeling sick, was unable to get out of his truck, police said.

Because he wasn’t cooperating with police, the officer had to pull him out of the truck, Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

The officer tried talking with Nasiri once he was out of the truck, but he was unable to answer questions or maintain a conversation, according to police reports.

Police checked his pockets for identification and found five gift cards, each with a white sticker attached, according to reports. A five-digit number was written on each sticker.

The officer swiped each card through a credit card skimming device and allegedly found that they were re-encoded with other people’s names.

The account numbers were also different from those imprinted on the card, police said.

Once detectives determine that a card has been re-encoded with someone else’s account information, they call the credit card company and inquire about any fraudulent activity, Financial Crimes Sgt. Harley Wing said.

Detectives also contacted the credit card holders to determine whether Nasiri had permission to use their accounts, he added.

Nasiri was arrested on suspicion of identity theft.