Probation for credit card crime spree

A 26-year-old father of three says an opioid addiction led him to use a stolen credit card to wrack up multiple purchases of lottery tickets, Red Bull and candy.

Brandon Harbridge, of no fixed address, was placed on probation for two years and ordered to perform 75 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty Tuesday in Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines to a charge of using a credit card that was obtained by crime.

Sometime overnight on Feb. 16, court was told, a credit card was stolen from a car parked in a driveway in Port Colborne.

The following day, Harbridge used the card to make purchases at two convenience stores and a gas station in Niagara Falls. He made three transactions at one convenience store alone.

In each case, he used the ‘tap’ feature of the credit card, which was issued in a woman’s name.

Defence counsel V.J. Singh told Judge Fergus O’Donnell his client is currently serving a jail sentence in Lindsay, Ont.

“Going to jail is difficult enough but being in jail in Lindsay has been particularly hard for him,” he said. “It has smartened him up.”

He said Harbridge is “eager to stay sober” and plans to earn his high school diploma and continue on to college.

“If he has the strength, then there is no reason he shouldn’t succeed,” Singh said.