LUBBOCK, Texas — A man was arrested in Lubbock and accused of obtaining “close to 2 million” credit card accounts that listed owners’ information on his electronic devices, according to court records obtained by EverythingLubbock.com.
Michael Meares, 44, was arrested in the 8600 block of Memphis Drive. He was indicted by a Lubbock County grand jury on Tuesday.
Court records said several crime reports were made that involved Meares as a suspect. A report from the Lubbock Police Department stated, “There had been unconfirmed information that [Meares] was counterfeiting U.S. currency and credit cards.” A police report also stated Meares was “suspected of fentanyl use.”
When police searched the files found on Meares’s devices, investigators found a spreadsheet that stated, “You can use this database to steal money from cards.”
Court documents said the spreadsheet contained “account holders’ names, addresses, emails, cities, states, countries, bank names, credit card numbers, expiration dates and the three-digit security codes.” The spreadsheet had information on 1,048,541 accounts, court records said.
Investigators discovered Meares also obtained a Freedom of Information Act request from the Social Security Administration from December 2011 that provided thousands of people’s names and control numbers. Another file revealed 88 personal and business email accounts, court records showed. Court documents stated Meares also had an additional data spreadsheet with banking information on 177 accounts.
According to court documents, Meares was in possession of documents that listed people’s vehicles titles, driver’s license numbers and information. Court records also stated Meares had, “522 pages of OSS [military] personnel files, listing names, serial numbers, box numbers and location of WWII service members. Most if not all are deceased.”
Meares was charged with several counts of fraud, forgery and possession of a controlled substance. As of Tuesday, he remained at the Lubbock County Detention Center on bonds totaling $377,500.
