Shop owner with gun thwarts theft ring

An incident from Tacoma, Washington:

Brian Herbert believes a credit card theft ring targeted him and nearly got away Wednesday with at least $15,000 in jewelry and other items ordered over the Internet.

Herbert, owner of Last Stop Computers in Tacoma, wasn’t about to let that happen.

With Herbert’s help and that of his two sons, Tacoma police arrested a 23-year-old California woman who allegedly used Herbert’s credit card to order the jewelry and other items.

Herbert said he didn’t know his card was being abused until the bank called Tuesday, alerting him to the $15,000-plus in charges with a woman’s name attached. The bank told him approval for the purchases had been declined, but that turned out to be wrong. . . .

“You are going to jail,” Herbert said he told the woman.

She denied doing anything wrong and got back into the limo, Herbert said. He stood in front of the limo and called police. The limo driver also called police and said a man who appeared to have a gun pointed at him wouldn’t let him drive away. . . .