Staff Report

Jordan Allen Eppard

NAPPANEE — A New Paris man was recently arrested after allegedly using a man’s debit card and spending more than $1,800 without permission.

Jordan Allen Eppard, 27, 18911 E. Third St., New Paris, is charged with theft and fraud, both level 6 felonies; and unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, a class A misdemeanor.

On Feb. 17, a Nappanee Police officer responded to a Gulfstream Inc. location in Kosciusko County regarding several reports of vehicles being broken into. One of the vehicle’s owners said someone stole his debit card and multiple credit cards that were in his vehicle. The man also said someone used his debit card multiple times for unauthorized transactions.

On Feb. 22, a Nappanee Police detective went to a bank in Nappanee and spoke with one of the managers regarding the man’s bank account. The detective learned that there were six unauthorized transactions, each for $205.55, at a Walmart in Goshen. According to court documents, the store provided the detective with information on seven unauthorized transactions using the man’s stolen cards.

The total amount of unauthorized purchases using the man’s account was $1,848.96. Store employees also provided the detective with surveillance footage showing the suspect who used the stolen cards, as well as the suspect’s vehicle, a Dodge Durango.

During the investigation, law enforcement received a lead that the suspect may be Eppard, who was a former Gulfstream employee. They also received information that Eppard drives a Dodge Durango. A Gulfstream employee told officers she saw a Dodge Durango in the business’s parking lot on Feb. 17. She later identified Eppard as the person driving the Durango.

In an unrelated investigation, Eppard was stopped by the Goshen Police Department on Feb. 20 after leaving the Walmart in Goshen at a high rate of speed. Eppard was cited and released for false informing and driving as a habitual traffic violator. His Dodge Durango was also impounded.

On March 5, officers obtained a search warrant for the Dodge Durango. While searching the vehicle, officers found a Walmart shopping bag containing seven opened $200 Visa gift card packages and identifying information for Eppard.

Eppard was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on Dec. 15, with a $3,750 surety and cash bond.