Cops seeking Peabody man for identity theft

PEABODY-A warrant was issued for the arrest of a Malden man Wednesday after he failed to appear at a court arraignment for allegedly using his father’s identity to make over $6,000 in fraudulent purchases at Sears.Vincent J. Lavino Jr., 36, of 53 Hancock Road, Malden, was arrested Tuesday and charged with five counts of identity fraud, five counts of forgery, five counts of using a false document and five counts of larceny over $250 ? 20 charges in all.Lavino was scheduled for arraignment at Peabody District Court Wednesday but never showed up and a judge immediately issued a warrant for his arrest.Lavino was arrested at the North Shore Mall at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday after Sears Loss Prevention officers reported the man was making suspect purchases and was someone they had seen making several large purchases in the last couple of days, police said.Lavino was with another man when he bought about $596 worth of items on Tuesday. The Sears employees called police when they got suspicious and a police officer stopped the pair outside Express in the mall.When Lavino made the purchase earlier, police said he told an employee he didn’t have his credit card in his possession so he provided his driver’s license instead.After police contacted higher ups at Sears, officers discovered that the credit card account Lavino had used actually was registered to his father, who bares the same name.Store employees told police Lavino made several expensive purchases recently, including orders totaling $2,494 on Jan. 12, $1,575 on Jan. 10, $1,700 also on Jan. 10, $141 on Dec. 20 and $129 on Oct. 13, police said.As police questioned Lavino, he allegedly said, “It’s my father’s account but with my social security number.”Sears corporate offices confirmed the card did not belong to Lavino, but actually belonged to his father, police said.Police said officers and Sears tried to contact Lavino’s father multiple times but couldn’t get a hold of him.A short time later, an employee of the Sears in Saugus called Peabody police and informed them that her store had a similar problem with Lavino in the recent past.Saugus police recently charged Lavino with similar crimes that occurred at the Sears at the Square One Mall and issued him a trespass order from the store, police said.In the Peabody case, police said they charged Lavino with identity fraud for allegedly claiming to be the account holder, forgery for allegedly signing the receipts, using a false document for allegedly using the card and larceny for allegedly taking the items.