By Angela Marshall
Detective Robert Gally, of the Nassau County Police Department's Crimes Against Property Squad, said Dogansah was part of a group of men who set up five fraudulent corporations at 217 A Sunrise Highway in Rockville Centre. Gally said Dogansah and his partners took out credit cards under fake names and charged purchases at their corporations, which supposedly sold porcelain, silk and carpets. Dogansah also used stolen credit card information, taken from other businesses, to make ÒpurchasesÓ at his corporations, Gally said.
The loss to credit card companies, namely Citibank, Chase Manhattan, Astoria Federal Savings Bank and Discover, is about $158,000. Additional losses generated from fraudulent or counterfeit checks are believed to be about $30,000 to $40,000. The reported theft took place between Oct. 14, 2002 and June 3.
Police began investigating Dogansah when reports showed that the fake and stolen credit cards were all being used at the same Sunrise Highway location.
After a joint investigation by the Crimes Against Property Squad, the Special Investigation Squad/Joint Terrorist Task Force and the U.S. Secret Service, Rockville Centre Detective Michael Meehan arrested Dogansah at noon on June 3.
Detectives recovered two merchant credit card terminals along with other identity-related information.
Dogansah was arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead on June 18. His bail was set at $225,000, but because of outstanding warrants in other locations, he will not be released even if he can raise that amount.
The investigation is ongoing.
Jessica Stahl contributed to this article.
