Man nabbed for credit card thefts at gyms

He was charged with a series of credit card thefts at the Rio Sport and HealthClub, at 9811 Washingtonian Blvd. in Gaithersburg, and Bally’s Total Fitness Club, at 11820 Rockville Pike in Rockville, that have occurred since September 2006.

Griffin is being held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility on bonds for nine cases totaling $185,000, said Gary Britton, a correctional records technician said Monday. Cases include theft over $500, theft under $500, credit-card stealing, fraud identity to avoid prosecution, forgery, theft scheme and stolen credit-card charges, as well as a charge for violating probation, Britton said.

Due to an increasing number of thefts of credit cards, police started a new initiative called the ‘‘Financial Instrument Theft Initiative” to address the crime, Cpl. Jimmy Robinson said.

‘‘They were seeing a rising trend with the amount of credit cards taken through various reasons, vehicles, businesses, so they put a team together to focus more on this crime trend,” said Officer Melanie Hadley, a county police spokeswoman. ‘‘They have already obviously made some good arrests.”

Investigation revealed that Griffin was using other victims’ stolen membership cards to enter the two fitness clubs, police said.

Once inside, he would break into secured gym lockers and steal credit cards, which he used to make large purchases at nearby stores.

Earlier in the year police issued multiple warrants through Virginia and Maryland for Griffin and distributed his photograph to employees at both gyms.

On Oct. 3, Griffin entered Bally’s using a victim’s membership card, police said.

As he was exiting the locker room, employees recognized him and called police.

Two Bally’s employees followed Griffin as he fled the gym and waved down officers arriving at the scene, who caught and arrested Griffin.

Griffin has been charged with several counts of theft over $500, theft under $500, theft scheme less than $500, theft scheme over $500, theft of another’s credit card, charging another’s credit card over $500, charging another’s credit card under $500 and credit card forgery, according to the police statement.

County detectives warn that thefts continue and gym members should not store purses or wallets in a gym locker, but rather leave precious items at home.

Often, thieves take credit cards and leave other belongings, so owners do not realize that items are missing until several days later, Hadley said.