Shell game: Pair nabbed in credit card caper

Timothy Smith

Michael Brochu

ROCHESTER - Two men were arrested on Wednesday after they allegedly approached customers at Monster Gas on South Main Street offering to gas up cars using a credit card in exchange for half the value in cash.

The pair were arrested later after they were spotted at Walgreens, fled on foot and were later caught by police.

Timothy Smith, 24, no address given, and Michael Brochu, 26, 8 Fremont St. Somersworth, N.H., were both charged with conspiracy to commit theft by deception and resisting arrest. Smith was also charged with violation of probation or parole in connection with both New Hampshire and Maine violations.

The case began when police were called to Monster Gas for a report of suspicious activity.

The gas station clerk alerted police there were two males who were in the parking lot near the gas pumps and were offering to pay for customers' gas using a credit card and would take the customers' cash instead.

Police said witnesses stated that the pair offered to pay for double the amount of gas using the credit card for the cash they received.

A female victim refused their request and went into the store upon which one of the pair approached the female's car and tried to open the passenger side door, only to be surprised by a passenger they had not seen. The males then left the area, police say.

The clerk gave a description of the two males and information that they had done the same thing the day before but had reportedly fled when a customer gave them some cash in exchange for the credit card and never pumped or paid for the customer's gas.

Officers later spotted the males in the area of Walgreens and attempted to speak with them but they both fled the scene. Officers chased the suspects down Columbus Ave and eventually caught Smith in the China Palace parking lot. Brochu was arrested shortly after at a Dunkin Donuts parking lot.

Smith's warrants out of New Hampshire and Maine were in connection with related offenses, police said.