Carson City man jailed on felony grand larceny charge after wallet not returned to owner

A Carson City man was arrested Tuesday on felony suspicion of grand larceny after allegedly stealing a wallet a customer left behind at a pizza restaurant in February and then not returning it, a Carson City sheriff’s detective said.

Patrick Michael Murray, 31, was taken into custody at 11 a.m. in the 1400 block of East William Street with a bail of $25,000. Murray told the investigator during an interview that he called the owner of the wallet and said she had already picked it up but then later changed his story, saying he sent the wallet to her in the mail, according Detective Sam Hatley.

According to the arrest report, on Feb. 15, at around 2:30 p.m. the victim purchased a pizza from a restaurant in the 1800 block of Highway 50 East. The victim forgot her wallet on the counter of the establishment. The wallet contained $1,184 in cash from her tax return, a driver’s license, credit cards and jewelry. She returned to the restaurant at 3:20 p.m. to find her wallet gone. The victim contacted the manager and the manager informed her that he had viewed video surveillance and found that a man, later to be identified as Murray, had taken her wallet at around 2:45 p.m., the arrest report states.

After a pizza clerk took an order from Murray, surveillance shows he notices the wallet on the counter. He picked up the wallet and motioned with it to the clerk, attempting to give the wallet to the clerk. The clerk did not see the gesture and walked away, the report states. Murray then opened the wallet and appeared to look through the contents and showed it to a young male he was with. He then concealed the wallet in the right front pocket of his sweatshirt and then used his right arm to conceal the wallet. He then began to walk around the business looking out windows, surveillance video shows.

Murray then left the business without his pizza and the clerk had to call to them that they had forgotten it. He sent the young male he was with to get the pizza, the arrest report states.

On Feb. 19, the victim filed a report with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy completed a courtesy report and sent the report to the Carson City Sheriff’s Office. A report was completed by the front counter staff who forwarded the report to the investigation division.

Investigating detective Hatley contacted the pizza store’s district manager in Modesto, Calif., who provided officers with the complete credit card number several days later. The detective learned the card that Murray used was an H&R Block Bank Mastercard. Hatley then contacted the bank’s fraud department who provided him with the information to submit a subpoena to their legal department for Murray’s credit card history.

On Tuesday, April 7, the detective received the information back from H&R Block Bank. The credit card used to pay for the pizza belonged to Patrick Murray a resident in the 1800 block of East Long Street. The detective called the residence and learned where Murray worked.
The detective then went to the business at 10:30 a.m. and met with Murray and his manager. The manager allowed the detective to use his office to interview Murray. Hatley told Murray that he wanted to talk with him about the incident at the pizza restaurant. He agreed and the door was closed for privacy away from customers and other workers, the arrest report states.

Murray admitted to taking the wallet from the pizza restaurant. He stated he took it because he wanted to return it to its owner. He stated he did not try to give it to the employee because he did not trust the employees at the pizza restaurant to return the wallet. He also stated he tucked the wallet under his arm and did not conceal it.

The detective told Murray his story did not match what the security video showed. Murray kept repeating that he was an honest man and did not steal the wallet and the money, the arrest report states. He then added that immediately after taking the wallet, family encouraged him to return it so he called the owner, he said, stating the owner came to his residence where he said he returned the wallet to the owner.

Murray again stated he was an honest man and the wallet contained only about $400 which he returned. His story didn’t match what was reported by the victim or what the video showed, the arrest report states. The victim did not report that her wallet had been returned to her. In fact it had been four days after the theft that the victim reported the theft, the arrest report states.

Murray was arrested and booked on a felony suspicion of grand larceny. As he was being handcuffed, he made a spontaneous statement that he did return the wallet by mailing it to the victim, the arrest report states. The detective told Murray that the new story did not match what he originally had stated about calling the victim to his house to reclaim the wallet.

Those arrested on criminal charges are innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. Go here for other Carson City Sheriff's Office bookings Tuesday and early Wednesday.