A man who broke into a car at a local gym Friday  probably  had no idea he was stealing credit cards from a Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office employee.
    Thomas Jerome Seehof, 35, of South Zetterower Avenue, broke into the sheriff’s department employee’s car Friday while she was at 180 Fitness, Bulloch County Sheriff Lynn Anderson said.
    Surveillance video showed Seehof taking financial transaction cards from the vehicle, and “the victim reported (the cards) had been used around Statesboro after the theft.”
    Seehof bought things and withdrew cash, he said.
    Working in conjunction with the Statesboro Police Department, sheriff’s investigators obtained video from both 180 Fitness and the locations where the cards had been used. After identifying Seehof, they learned he bought electronics from Walmart with the stolen credit cards, he said.
    Investigators notified local pawn shops to be on the lookout for Seehof, and when he went to one location, Pawn City, to pawn the items, the shop employees contacted law enforcement, Anderson said.
    Deputies and police officers arrested Seehof without incident, and further investigation revealed more crimes, he said.
    “Seehof had charged multiple purchases at Fastenal, located on South Main Street … to a corporate account belonging to his employer, Custom Marine,” he said. “Seehof then sold the items he fraudulently purchased to Pawn City. He also stole two saltwater trolling motors from Custom Marine and sold them to Pawn City as well.”
    All property was returned to its rightful owners, and Seehof was charged with second-degree burglary; felony theft by taking, felony theft by receiving stolen property, theft by deception, three counts of financial transaction card theft, five counts of financial transaction card fraud and three counts of criminal attempt to commit financial transaction card fraud.
    He is also wanted on a felony probation violation charge in Florida, and law enforcement officials there will extradite him after he faces hearings and court in Bulloch County, Anderson said.
    “I would like to thank Detective Tommy Brown and the Statesboro Police Department for their assistance in solving these cases,” the sheriff said.
    Anyone with further information may contact Chief Deputy Capt. Todd Hutchens at (912) 764-8888.
   
    Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at (912) 489-9414.0