3 Accused of Nordstrom Credit Card Fraud

Walnut Creek police on Saturday afternoon arrested a trio of Southern California men suspected of using fraudulent credit cards to buy gift cards at Nordstrom stores around the state.

The three arrested at 4:15 p.m. Saturday in the Walnut Creek Nordstrom parking lot in Broadway Plaza were next headed for Portland, Ore., according to a Walnut Creek police alert.

The charges were burglary, forgery and conspiracy. Each of the three was booked into the Contra Costa Sheriff's Office Detention Facility on $70,000 bail.

The defendants are Xianglong Cao, 30, of Monterey Park; Jarmar Taiwan Bethea, 29, of Los Angeles; and Joseph Velner Quinney, 34, of Compton.

Police arrested them in a van in the parking lot, where Nordstrom loss prevention agents identified them as suspects who had just committed frauds in the store and other frauds at Nordstrom stores around the state, police reported.

Police said that in the van they found more than $10,000 worth of gift cards and credit cards belonging to other people.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the WCPD at (925) 943-5844.