Police say more than $5,000 of cigarettes were fraudulently purchased by a Tamaqua man.

Kaliek Merritt, 26, had charges of access device is counterfeit, altered or incomplete, theft by deception and receiving stolen property held for court recently in Magisterial District Judge Stephen Bayer’s courtroom.

State police with the criminal investigation unit in Frackville, say in charging documents they responded to and spoke with the store owner Ronakbhai Patel of One Stop Fuel, Tamaqua on May 1, 2019, about Merritt bought cartons of cigarettes numerous times.

Patel told police he had video of the transactions. Patel believed he was using a “Fuze” credit card, which has credit card numbers on it.

Patel said he received 62 dispute notifications for the purchases that he then provided to police.

Police did a vehicle stop May 2, 2019, and Merritt was in the car.