YOUNGSTOWN Suspect tells of selling stolen items to stores

Selling stolen items to convenience stores for drug money is common, he said.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mild-mannered Michael McCutcheon says he used stolen credit cards to buy cartons of cigarettes, then sold the smokes to a convenience store for cash to buy crack.
The 31-year-old Mahoning County jail inmate said the store bought the cigarettes for $15 to $20 per carton, then resold them for $32. The practice, he said, is widespread.
McCutcheon, of Tam-O-Shanter Drive, Poland, said he "runs with people who boost [shoplift] hygiene supplies" then sell them to convenience stores in the city. For $100 worth of stolen toothpaste, tampons, deodorant, diapers and so forth, the seller collects $30 to buy drugs, he said.
McCutcheon, seated in a cubicle behind a plastic glass partition, used an intercom phone Tuesday to talk to The Vindicator. The soft-spoken man said he's concerned that detectives will try to link him to every unsolved burglary in which credit cards were taken.
Stolen cards for sale
Stolen credit cards, he said, can be bought in the parking lots of certain convenience stores, as well as CDs, drugs and more. He said he bought three or four stolen credit cards in June, one that happened to be from a burglary on Burbank Avenue.
Detective Sgt. Brad Blackburn said about $300 worth of cigarettes were charged to the Burbank woman's credit card.
McCutcheon said he may be "indirectly" involved in some -- but not all -- the area's burglaries. He said he didn't personally go into any houses.
He said he's addicted to crack and wants help.
So far, McCutcheon has been charged with burglaries on Salem-Warren Road in Ellsworth Township and state Route 165 in Green Township that took place in May and June.
McCutcheon made his initial appearance in Sebring Court on Tuesday on those charges, and is set for a preliminary hearing at 9:30 a.m. Friday in Canfield Court.
He is jailed in lieu of $17,500 bond set by County Court Judge Diane Vettori. In Youngstown, McCutcheon faces one count of burglary and two counts each of receiving stolen property and misuse of a credit card. The crimes occurred in June.
He was due in municipal court today for a preliminary hearing.
Describes scam
Lt. Robin Lees has said that McCutcheon would sometimes tell elderly residents, mostly, that he'd just hit a dog with his car and that it ran in the back yard. While the residents helped look for the injured dog, his accomplice, who remains at large, would enter and take things of value, Lees said.
McCutcheon said he's not the one who used that scam.
When told by a reporter that no such crimes have taken place since he was arrested Aug. 12, he appeared surprised. "They haven't?" he said.
McCutcheon, who spent 10 years in prison for burglary, said he used to knock on doors and ask for a drink of water, explaining that he had lost his expensive cat and was parched from searching all day. Once in the house, he'd steal valuables.
McCutcheon said detectives suspect him because of his criminal history.
The inmate said he sold his car, a Chevrolet Corsica, to a drug dealer in May, but didn't take the license plates. He said that may explain why the car was spotted by burglary witnesses.
Detectives, though, said witnesses picked McCutcheon out of photo lineups in Youngstown and elsewhere.
In Ellsworth, for example, a neighbor who had heard glass breaking next door followed a Corsica and got the license plate number, which was traced back to McCutcheon. The neighbor also got a look at the driver and picked McCutcheon from a photo lineup, according to the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department.
meade@vindy.com