EMT reported credit card fraud after Las Vegas shooting

Not all stories that came out of the Route 91 Harvest festival grounds were tales of heroism.

In a statement released Wednesday by Las Vegas police, an emergency medical technician who was working the night of the festival detailed how he became the victim of credit card fraud and attempted identity theft.

Names were redacted from all witness statements, but the man was described as part of the festival’s medical crew. He gave his statement on Oct. 4 at the Metropolitan Police Department’s Enterprise Area Command offices.

“I have not seen my backpack since the night of October 1st,” the man wrote. “I have recently received credit alerts that large purchases have been made with the credit cards that were in my wallet that was in my backpack.”

He wrote that he avoided canceling his card because police said they would be able to return it as they gathered evidence from the event, since the wallet had his name and address.

Witness statement 6 p.46-47 by Las Vegas Review-Journal on Scribd

According to the statement, his wallet also contained his Social Security card, debit cards, credit cards, military identification cards and health insurance cards.

On Oct. 2, Capital One alerted him about a $658.48 charge at Best Buy that he did not make. Someone also tried unsuccessfully to log in to his bank account online six times.

He received an email on the morning of Oct. 4 indicating that he had recently opened a line of credit with PayPal. He also was notified about an online application to Best Buy requesting to open a line of credit, which was denied.

The witness statement ends with a list of other items the man lost during the chaos: keys to a 2007 Honda Accord, electronic charger cables “and a few other miscellaneous items” he could not remember.

His statement was among hundreds of documents released this week, under court order, in connection with the Oct. 1 shooting, which left 58 concertgoers dead.

Contact Madelyn Reese at mreese@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0497. Follow @MadelynGReese on Twitter.

Witness Statement 6 by Las Vegas Review-Journal on Scribd