Three Eagan Fraud Suspects Create Gender Confusion

Three people arrested last week and charged with credit-card fraud in Eagan created a little gender confusion among authorities who carted them off to jail.

Joseph Devonte Jackson, 19; Bruce Raynard Dumas, 22; and Deven Allen Pinkins, 21, each are charged with felony credit-card fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

But according to the report on the incident, the suspects – transgendered men – were initially identified as women.

The report says that a Cub Foods employee told police that two women had come into the store Nov. 2 and bought $1,200 worth of Nordstrom gift cards, paying for them with bad checks and fraudulent credit cards. When they returned the next day and tried to buy another $400 in gift cards, the transaction was denied.

Police learned that the three suspects had tried the same thing at Cub locations in Rosemount and Apple Valley.

According to the criminal complaints, while searching their Bloomington hotel room and car, police found a credit-card skimmer – a device that reads and stores credit-card information – computer equipment and “numerous” items of clothing purchased using the gift cards.

The credit card’s owner is out of the country and told police that she didn’t know how the three got her account information.

A spokeswoman at the Dakota County Jail said Wednesday that despite the initial report that the suspects were women, the Eagan officer who arrested the three determined that they were men.

Female suspects are not housed at the Dakota County Jail in Hastings; the county contracts with the Ramsey County Jail to board them. So the officer headed for Hastings rather than St. Paul with the three suspects.

Only one, Jackson, remained behind bars Wednesday on a $50,000 bond. Dumas, who is also known as Vanity Shantay Cole, and Pinkins were released on their promise to make all future court appearances.

An omnibus hearing in Jackson’s case is scheduled for Nov. 28. Omnibus hearings for Dumas and Pinkins will be held Jan. 31, all in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.