Twin Peaks Sheriff’s deputies are asking for the public’s help in identifying and locating three suspects who allegedly used a credit card stolen in a Running Springs burglary to buy gas, cigarettes and snacks recently at a service station in Highland.

Detective Mike Pelkey said the suspects left the Chevron station at Highland Avenue and Highway 330 in a yellow Ford Mustang. The vehicle, captured in a grainy image on the station’s outdoor security camera, appears to have a black bumper guard on its front end. Because of the image’s poor quality, Pelkey said, detectives have not been able to determine the year the car was made.

Pelkey said the credit card, along with a Russian passport and a driver’s license issued in Russia, were stolen in a residential burglary in Running Springs in the first part of July.

Shortly after the gas purchase, Pelkey said, the suspects attempted to use the stolen driver’s license as identification to cash a check at bank in Hesperia, a branch of the bank where the victim has a local account.

However, bank employees knew their customer and realized something was amiss, so they confiscated the license, and the suspects fled, Pelkey said.

The victim, whose identity is being withheld, has since canceled the credit card, “so it’s no good any more,” Pelkey said.

After the female suspect had swiped the stolen credit card through the slot in the pay station on the service station’s gasoline island, Pelkey said, the trio entered the food mart, where they ordered cigarettes and appeared, from the photo, to pick up drinks.

When they went to pay, he said, the female reportedly held the driver’s license against a transparent barrier in front of the cashier, and then put it back in her purse.

Pelkey said he was surprised the cashier did not question the license, because it is written using the Cyrillic characters of the Russian alphabet.

Anyone with information about the identity or whereabouts of the suspects is asked to contact Detective Pelkey at (909) 336-0600.

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