Published: November 16, 2007 05:19 pm      

Jacksonville man faces credit card abuse charges

By Richard Nelson

editor@jacksonvilleprogress.com

For months Jacksonville police have heard rumors about a Jacksonville man bilking possibly hundreds of people out of thousands of dollars through a sports memorabilia Web site.

Eual Brent Hallford, 40, now faces three charges of credit card abuse and two charges of debit card abuse. Jacksonville police arrested him Monday and posted a $25,000 bond.

“It’s always been to the point where we never had anyone come in and file a complaint against him,” said JPD detective Sgt. Daniel Franklin. “All these people were contacting the BBB, and the BBB brought it to us.”

The Better Business Bureau provided Jacksonville police with about 400 names of potential victims, and JPD has successfully contacted 25 to 30, Franklin said.

The complaints are from people who say they used credit cards or debit cards to pay for sports merchandise ordered through Web site www.tradingcardcollectibles, but never received it. Some were offered “store” credit, the complaints read, but they never received other merchandise ordered with the credit.

“The amounts varied from a little to a lot — from $50 to $45,000,” Franklin said.

If Hallford is convicted of the state felony charges he could spend up to two years in a state jail. However, more charges could be added.

“We are steadily getting calls,” Franklin said. “We got four or five today.”

Franklin also said the FBI and U.S. Postal Service “are interested in the case.”

Attempts to contact Hallford were unsuccessful Thursday afternoon.