Man Charged with Using Stolen Credit Card at Apple Valley Businesses

A Minneapolis man has been charged with using a credit card stolen from a car parked at a Plymouth apartment complex last December at the Apple Valley Walmart.

Rudolph Valentino Avent, 20, is charged with credit-card fraud, a felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. 

According to the criminal complaint, someone broke into seven cars parked outside a Plymouth apartment complex last Dec. 1-2 and stole a number of items, including a wallet and credit cards belonging to a Plymouth woman.

Plymouth police identified Avent and Sherrick Machon Catchings as suspects in the Plymouth break-ins, and they spoke to both men.

Avent admitted to officers that he had used credit cards taken from the vehicles in Plymouth at the Apple Valley Walmart and at a fast-food restaurant in Apple Valley, according to the complaint. The victim discovered that her credit card had been used without authorization at Walmart.

Apple Valley police reviewed Walmart surveillance video from Dec. 2 and identified Avent in the video, the complaint says. Avent was seen conducting three transactions between 4:57 and 5:22 a.m. Dec. 2, charging $722 to the Plymouth victim’s credit card.

Catchings, who has not been charged in Dakota County, told police that he had paid Avent to use the stolen credit cards to buy items for him, according to the complaint. Catchings was also seen on the Walmart surveillance video during the same time that Avent was in the store, the complaint charges.

Avent and Catchings were arrested last December on unrelated charges of burglarizing an underground garage at a Minnetonka apartment complex. 

Avent, who was arrested Sept. 4 in Hastings on a warrant issued Aug. 31, remains in the Dakota County Jail on a $15,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled Oct. 2 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.