Ed Kemmick/Last Best News
The Domino’s in Lockwood, scene of the solving of the purported crime.
A man accused of using a stolen debit card to make several unauthorized purchases called the wrong pizza joint last week.
Lockwood resident Justin Michael Babcock was arrested at his home Friday, after an employee at the Domino’s Pizza in Lockwood reported that someone using her missing debit card had called in a pizza order there that day.
The Domino’s employee, identified only as D.A., called the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office about the questionable transaction on Friday. When Deputy Adam Lauwers went to Domino’s to look into it, D.A. told him that she had noticed her wallet was missing from her car on the morning of Jan. 16.
All this information was included in an affidavit filed Monday when Babcock was charged with deceptive practices, a felony, in Justice Court. Justice of the Peace David Carter released Babcock on his own recognizance and ordered him to appear in District Court on Feb. 2, when he is to enter a plea.
Babcock’s age is either 23 or 33. The affidavit said he was born in April 1991, but a complaint filed Monday by Deputy County Attorney Nicholas Owens said he was born in October 1981.
The affidavit said the woman who called the sheriff’s department was working last Friday when she noticed that a receipt from earlier in the day showed that someone had ordered a pizza using her debit card. She told Lauwers that she had tried to cancel all her credit and debit cards when she discovered her wallet was gone, but that she must have neglected to cancel the one in question.
The receipt also showed the address where the pizza was delivered: 2224 US Highway 87 E., No. 237. When Lauwers went to that address, Babcock let him into the residence.
“Deputy Lauwers,” the affidavit said, “immediately observed inside the residence several Domino’s Pizza boxes.” Bingo! Lauwers said Babcock admitted buying the pizza with D.A.’s debit card, as well as purchasing pizza on an earlier occasion, making a purchase at a Town Pump and buying approximately 10 items on Amazon.com.
Babcock told the deputy he found the debit card along Highway 87 East, not far from the Domino’s location, when he was on his way home from a job interview. Babcock said he thought the debit card was a Green Dot prepaid card.
“He stated he believed the card was like a gift card and not a bank card,” the affidavit said, “but admitted he understood the money did not belong to him.”
If found guilty of felony deceptive practices, Babcock could be sentenced to prison for up to 10 years and fined as much as $50,000.
None of the documents say what kind of pizza Babcock ordered.
