Ponca City Police arrest two in national refund fraud scam

Ponca City Police officers responded to Tractor Supply Tuesday evening after receiving a call from an employee stating that there were subjects in the store that may have warrants.

Officers arrived about 6:45 p.m. and arrested two subjects. Their vehicle was towed.

A corporate internal loss prevention alert bulletin had been sent out to Tractor Supply stores recently about a refund fraud scam in multiple states. Stores had been contacted by the pair in the last 45 days in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee.

According to the store employees, the Moore and Stillwater stores had been contacted earlier Tuesday.

The employees recognized Wendy Brewer, a 36-year-old white woman, and Justin Reed, a 36-year-old white man from the corporate alert.

The pair was arrested yesterday by Ponca City Police as they attempted their fraudulent scheme.

The pair followed the pattern they had used in previous Tractor Supply Stores, police spokeswoman Sherry Bowers said.

Reed called the store saying they had a bottle of a weed killing concentrate that didn’t work and had attempted to get a refund from the manufacturer, but were unable to.

Brewer entered the store empty-handed only minutes later, asked where the weed killer was stocked in the store, retrieved a bottle and went to the register to ask for a cash refund of nearly $100.

According to the corporate bulletin, Brewer and Reed have been part of large refund fraud ring that began in December. Brewer was arrested at the store by one of the responding officers. Reed left the purple 1998 Mitsubishi, in which the pair had traveled to the store together, and was arrested by the second officer walking about three blocks south of Tractor Supply on 14^th street.

The pair gave the same address in Walker, Ind., during the booking procedure, although Brewer had a driver’s license from the state of Kentucky in her possession at the time of her arrest. Both were charged with obtaining cash by false pretense.