Sources say 'Bonnie' used stolen credit card at Target
New details of Jocelyn Kirsch's reported criminal behavior in California - an act that prompted a federal judge last week to order the former Drexel University senior to wear a monitoring device - have surfaced just as her purported partner-in-crime faces a federal court judge today.
New details of Jocelyn Kirsch's reported criminal behavior in California - an act that prompted a federal judge last week to order the former Drexel University senior to wear a monitoring device - have surfaced just as her purported partner-in-crime faces a federal court judge today.
According to sources familiar with the California case, Kirsch, while still employed by a Starbucks in Napa, Calif., allegedly stole a credit card from a co-worker's wallet, which was inside a locker at the cafe.
Kirsch, 22, then purportedly visited a Target store, where she allegedly used her co-worker's credit card to purchase a candle and bed linens, sources said. The purchase was captured by Target surveillance cameras, sources said.
It is unclear when the alleged credit-card theft or subsequent purchases took place.
Federal authorities declined to comment on the new details. A Starbucks spokeswoman said only that Kirsch is no longer employed by the Seattle-based coffee chain. A Target spokesman also had no comment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Lappen, the lead prosecutor on the case, said Wednesday that prosecutors would address the credit-card-theft allegation this week, presumably when Kirsch is in federal court on Thursday.
Stephen R. Kahn, Kirsch's attorney in Beverly Hills, told the Daily News last night that he was unaware of the latest theft allegations.
"I know nothing about it . . . No one here has mentioned it to me," he said.
Today, however, the media spotlight is on Edward Kyle Anderton, 25, the University of Pennsylvania graduate whose promising future fell apart when he was arrested with Kirsch in December on identity-theft and burglary charges.
Anderton is expected to plead guilty before U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno at a 3 p.m. hearing. Robreno is presiding over both Anderton's and Kirsch's cases.
The pair, who have become popularly known as "Bonnie and Clyde," face federal charges of conspiracy, bank fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft. The last charge carries a minimum mandatory sentence of two years. They could face up to five years in federal prison.
Anderton's lawyer, Larry Krasner, did not return a call yesterday seeking comment.
Anderton, an economics major who was on a scholarship at Penn, and Kirsch, a former international-studies major at Drexel, reportedly signed a plea agreement that would send them to prison for at least two years, Kirsch's lawyer Ron Greenblatt has said.
They are accused of fleecing friends, neighbors, co-workers and local businesses of nearly $120,000 by obtaining personal information.
Anderton was employed by Lubert-Adler, a real-estate private-equity firm, which owned the Belgravia on Chestnut Street near 18th, where the couple once occupied a two-bedroom condo. He is believed to have taken unit and mailbox keys from inside the Belgravia.
While working in the firm's Cira Centre offices near 30th Street and JFK Boulevard, Anderton allegedly lifted personal information from the men's locker room inside the building's gym.
He had been hired as an entry-level financial analyst at Lubert-Adler, earning nearly $65,000 in September 2006. But on July 30, 2007, he was fired because he lied about being sick.
Anderton and Kirsch established eBay and PayPal accounts to sell ill-gotten laptop computers and iPods purchased with the fraudulent credit cards they opened with their victims' personal information, federal authorities said.
The stolen funds helped pay for their high-end lifestyle, including trips to the Caribbean and Paris, and the latest in electronics, federal authorities said.
Anderton has been living in Everett, Wash., with his parents while out on bail.
Last week, during Kirsch's surprise bail hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lynne A. Sitarski prohibited Kirsch from contacting Anderton or any witnesses in the case.
Kirsch was in court Wednesday after federal prosecutors learned of the credit-card-theft allegation.
In addition to ordering Kirsch to wear an ankle bracelet, Sitar-ski also ordered her to 24-hour home detention in her Novato, Calif., apartment and to call in to U.S. Pre-Trial Services three times a day.
Lappen told reporters that Kirsch "didn't know the [California] victim well. It was somebody she had contact with."
The purported crime "was similar to the activity she was engaged in here," Lappen said.
Greenblatt did not return a call from the Daily News.