A New York man was ordered held without bail after he was charged with using a fraudulent credit card in Bel Air and police could not confirm his identity.
At a bail review Thursday, Harford County District Court Judge Mimi Cooper ordered the man, originally listed as John Doe, to be held without bail.
He was later identified as Jonathan Santiago Morel, of the 800 block of Trinity Avenue in Bronx, N.Y., said Sgt. Jim Lockard of Bel Air Police Department.
Morel was arrested at 4:15 p.m. last Wednesday for allegedly trying to buy two iPhones at the AT&T Wireless store in the 500 block of Baltimore Pike, Lockard said.
He was found with a New Jersey driver's license and a fraudulent credit card, and was charged with identity theft between $1,000 and $10,000, possessing a false government identification, having a counterfeit credit card and making a false statement to a peace officer.
Lockard said it was hard to confirm his identity because in New York, a state or federal judge has to approve the ID to be forwarded. He noted some states do not allow a photo to be sent for identity to be verified at all.
The investigation into Morel is still ongoing and Lockard could not say if he was suspected in any other cases of identity theft.