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Michael Johnathan Kirkland
27-year-old Nederland resident has been behind bars for nearly a month – and could become a convicted felon – after he was arrested for stealing a credit card he found in a bar parking lot and spending $14 at an Exxon station.
A Jefferson County grand jury indicted Jonathan Michael Kirkland, 27, of Nederland, for credit/debit card abuse June 8 for a crime that happened late February. A patron of Dylan’s Bar in Port Arthur called the Nederland Police Department saying his credit card had been stolen after he lost it at the establishment Feb. 21.
Two days later, Capital One alerted the victim that his card had been used at an Exxon station in Nederland for $14.09. Surveillance footage pulled from the time in question showed a white man with brown hair, wearing a Nederland Bulldogs shirt and sporting tattoos on his forearms and right hand. Additionally, surveillance caught Kirkland leaving in a car registered to his mother.
March 18, officers made contact with Kirkland in reference to the case. The suspect said he found the victim’s credit card in the Exxon parking lot before he went in and made an unauthorized purchase. Kirkland further admitted to attempting to use two different cards belonging to the victim to purchase pizza from Domino’s. However, Kirkland decided to use his own money when the two stolen cards declined – to let him steal.
As of press time, Kirkland had been a resident of the Jefferson County jail since May 18, when he was arrested by NPD for credit card abuse and possession of a controlled substance.