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Detectives say brains behind fraud scheme was already in Pinellas County jail

 
Robert Kinzinger, 48, is accused of arranging fraudulent credit card transactions while locked up in the county jail, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. [Courtesy of Pinellas County Sheriff's Office]
Robert Kinzinger, 48, is accused of arranging fraudulent credit card transactions while locked up in the county jail, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. [Courtesy of Pinellas County Sheriff's Office]
Published April 1, 2017

LARGO — Pinellas sheriff's detectives didn't have to look very hard to find the man they contend cooked up a scheme to use fraudulent credit card transactions to buy supplies for jail inmates.

He was, they said, pulling off the scam while he was an inmate at the Pinellas County jail.

Detectives on Tuesday arrested the inmate, Robert Bryan Kinzinger, 47, and his girlfriend Theresa Farr, 56, of 1219 Rosewood St. in Largo.

According to detectives, Kinzinger told Farr to retrieve a credit card number he had stored on his laptop at home. The credit card belonged to a former, unidentified neighbor of his, age 75.

Detectives said Kinzinger instructed Farr to use the credit card number to buy food and hygiene products for other inmates via an online account with mycarepack.com, an online service that delivers commissary packages to inmates. Farr placed four online orders totaling $365.47 using the neighbor's identity and credit card number, according to the Sheriff's Office.

When detectives questioned Farr, according to the agency, she admitted to her role in the scheme.

Why was Kinzinger in jail? He's awaiting trial on other charges he stole the identities of 15 people and used those for credit card fraud and stealing internet and cable services.

Kinzinger was also already on probation for a 2012 case in which he helped burglarize the office of Clearwater dentist Bill Strupp. Kinzinger and an accomplice swiped computers, cameras and a portable X-ray machine, as well as signed baseballs and bats that Strupp had been given by his friend, the late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

Kinzinger and his accomplice were nabbed when they tried to sell the valuable sports memorabilia back to Strupp for $10,000.

Farr was arrested on a charge of fraudulent use of personal identification. She was freed from jail Tuesday night after posting $2,000 bail. Kinzinger now face a charge of criminal use of personal identification on top of a 2016 charge of fraudulent use of personal identification and three counts of violation of probation. He was still in the county jail on Friday, held without bail.

Jail records show he had just 61 cents in his commissary account.

Contact Craig Pittman at craig@tampabay.com. Follow @craigtimes.