New credit-card charges against jailed pair

A man and woman being held in jail on a series of burglaries have been charged with using credit cards stolen from a home in August 2007 to purchase more than $6,000 in items.

Roy Whitaker, 36, has been held in the Manatee County jail since April 18 on charges including armed burglary, grand theft, grand theft auto and possession of a firearm.

A search of Whittaker's home, in the 2600 block of 26th Avenue Drive West, a storage unit there and a hotel room where he and his girlfriend, Denise Hendricks, 30, stayed revealed stolen property, according to Manatee County Sheriff's Office reports.

Hendricks also is in jail after being arrested at a Sarasota hotel on charges of using a stolen credit card.

The new credit-card-fraud charges accuse Whittaker and Hendricks with using the cards stolen in August 2007 from a home in the 6900 block of Seventh Avenue Boulevard Northwest.

The thieves took jewelry, a coin collection, checkbooks, passports, keys to vehicles, a .357 magnum handgun and credit cards, according to a sheriff's office report.

On March 3, 2008, Hendricks and Whitaker went to Friedman's Jewelers in DeSoto Square mall and purchased $4,068.27 worth of jewelry using a credit card stolen from the home in 2007.

On that same day, the couple went to Wal-Mart Supercenter, 5315 Cortez Road, and spent $518.66 with the credit card.

Several other transactions with stolen credit cards were made that day and several times through the months, including a $731.75 purchase on March 6 at the JC Penney jewelry department at the mall.

Many of the transactions were captured on store surveillance video with Hendricks and Whitaker making the purchases with Hendricks' two small children.

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New credit-card charges against jailed pair