Wanted Florida Man Gets Caught By Missoula Store Employee, Accused of Fraudulent Purchases in 20 States

A man wanted in more than 20 states is now sitting in a Missoula jail thanks to an observant store employee. 25-year-old Felipe Perez-Reyes is accused of making about $200,000 worth of purchases using counterfeit credit cards and Deputy County Attorney Karla Painter says he was apprehended at Missoula’s Sportsman’s Warehouse.

“We got really really lucky, it was actually the lost prevention officer Arron Olsen, who works at Sportsman’s Warehouse, and he was just being very diligent,” said Painter. “He had received an alert in February that actually had some pictures and describe how they operated and he apparently just committed that to memory. When he saw this guy, he was actually checking out and he called law enforcement immediately and they arrived in time.”

Perez-Reyes will definitely face Missoula justice, but he may be getting some federal charges as well.

“They’re considering a conspiracy charge which would essentially wrap all those instances into one and be able to extend on those jurisdictions, but I don’t know specifically what crimes they’re considering,” Painter said. “I know that they’re still in the preliminary investigation stage and still executing those search warrants to gather more evidence at this point.”

According to Painter, it appears that Perez-Reyes bought mainly high end optics equipment, like scopes and range finders, at his various stops throughout the U.S.