Police said suspect was passenger in vehicle linked to regional theft investigation
A total of 86 felony and misdemeanor charges lodged against two Columbus, OH men, one with active out-of-state warrants, were moved on to Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Tuesday, accused by Montgomery Township Police of thefts from vehicles and attempted credit card fraud.
Zakaria M. Mohamed, 24, of the 2400 block of Westford Place, and Ladane Abdul-Wahab Yusuaf, 22, of the 4100 block of Keffer Road, were arrested after Montgomery Township Police located a silver Toyota Camry that had been flagged by automatic license plate readers in connection with a theft investigation originating in Upper Merion Township, according to a criminal complaint.
Mohamed is charged with 33 offenses in total. There are 28 felony charges:
He is also charged with a misdemeanor count each of conspiracy to commit theft, theft, receiving stolen property, possession of a counterfeit access device, and conspiracy to commit theft from a motor vehicle, per court records.
Yusuaf s charged with 53 offenses in total. There are 50 felony charges:
He is also charged with misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit theft, possession of display documents, and conspiracy to commit theft from a motor vehicle.
Police said Upper Merion officers alerted surrounding departments about a vehicle allegedly involved in thefts from vehicles at an LA Fitness location, including the use of stolen credit cards.
The vehicle, described as a silver Toyota Camry bearing a Pennsylvania temporary tag, triggered a license plate reader alert as it entered Montgomery Township, court documents said.
An officer conducted a check of the temporary registration and determined the tag was fraudulent, returning no records, according to the affidavit. The vehicle was later detected by another license plate reader in Hilltown Township before returning toward Montgomery Township.
Around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, officers located the vehicle in traffic on Bethlehem Pike near Route 202 and stopped it, police said. The driver was identified as Yusuaf, and the passenger was identified as Mohamed.
After both were detained by police, officers removed a Ford key fob and a wallet containing multiple gift cards, which police said are commonly purchased during credit card frauds.
"As we continued our investigation, in plain view on the passenger side floorboard was two credit cards belonging to a different person other than either of them," police wrote in the affidavit.
Police said at 6:08 p.m., a victim from LA Fitness wanted to report his Ford key fob was stolen from his locker at the gym and then multiple credit cards were stolen from inside his car in the parking lot.
Officers responded and confirmed that the victim's credit cards were the ones in plain view on the floorboard of the Toyota, police said.
The victim reported that three different credit cards were attempted to be used at Walmart in Hilltown Township, per the affidavit.
Each card was swiped attempiing to make a purchase of $507.84 for a tofal of §1,523.52, police said.
During the investigation, officers discovered Mohamed had two active arrest warrants with extradition to Pennsylvania, according to the complaint.
One warrant was issued out of DuPage County, Illinois, for failure to appear on a burglary charge. The second was issued out of Montgomery County, Ohio, for a probation violation related to receiving stolen property, police said.
Because the warrants originated outside Pennsylvania and were confirmed for extradition, Mohamed was charged as a fugitive from justice and taken into custody.
Court records indicate he was charged with arrest prior to requisition, a felony under Pennsylvania law.
Yusuaf is free on $10,000 unsecured bond, per court records. He is represented by public defender Vincent Petersen. Mohamed is jailed on $49,077 cash bail, which includes a probation detainer. He is represented by public defender Courtney Jane Marthens.
Formal arraignment is set for April 22 for both defendants.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
