Man pleads guilty in credit-card shopping spree

The Daily Inter Lake

A Whitefish man accused of using other people's credit cards for his own shopping sprees pleaded guilty Friday to deceptive practices.

Adam Longnecker, 30, had previously pleaded not guilty to both deceptive practices and identity theft, but in a plea agreement in Flathead District Court, the identify theft charge was dropped in exchange for his guilty plea to deceptive practices.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled May 26.

Longnecker sponsored a local skateboard camp and then used credit-card numbers that parents used to pay for their children to attend the camp. He ordered sporting goods, items from Pier 1 Imports, pet supplies and even Maine lobsters and Seattle cod using the stolen credit-card numbers.

Kalispell police arrested him last September when he checked into a motel where he had the merchandise shipped.

Longnecker also operated an online supply store for outdoor and sports equipment and allegedly added other charges to customers' credit cards.

Crimes such as deceptive practices and identity theft pose a growing problem for local law enforcement agencies, Kalispell Det. Sgt. Brian Fulford said, especially if witnesses have to be brought in from other states to testify.

Such crimes generally used to be committed against people within the local jurisdiction, but the Internet offers the potential to commit "cybercrime" anywhere, Fulford said.

"Our criminal procedure laws will have to change to deal with the cyberworld," he said.