By Thomas Monnay
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Copyright 2007 South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
MIAMI, Fla. — A Miami-Dade County firefighter has been suspended with pay amid allegations he used co-workers’ bankcard numbers to shop and pay bills, incurring $2,930 in expenses, according to Miami-Dade police.
Andrew Simmons, 27, obtained the card numbers from four co-workers’ wallets at the Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue Station 38, 575 NW 199th St. in Miami, a search warrant states.
Simmons, of east Miramar, earns about $46,000 a year and joined the department in June 1999, said Lt. Eddy Ballester, a Fire-Rescue spokesman. He said the suspension started Monday.
Bobby Williams, a Miami-Dade Police Department spokesman, said Tuesday that Simmons had not been charged with a crime. “It’s still a pending, open investigation,” Williams said.
Simmons could not be reached despite an attempt to call his home, where the phone had been disconnected.
Investigators said Simmons copied a co-worker’s Washington Mutual debit card information and used it on Feb. 16, 2007, to pay utilities and telephone bills in the amounts of $159.93 to Florida Power & Light Co., $65.40 to the City of Miramar and $50 to Sprint PCS.
Investigators say a Miramar utilities employee linked Simmons’ address and the number for his home telephone, which has been disconnected, to the electronic transaction with the city.
In another instance, investigators say Simmons stole a co-worker’s credit card number and used it on April 26 for a DirectTV bill payment of $218.66 and a $227.25 purchase with Ticketmaster.
Investigators think Simmons used his personal computer for all the transactions.
Most of the transactions, which included one cell phone bill payment for $652 on May 9, were made to Sprint PCS, according to the search warrant.